IJM 

m 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Gl  FT    OF 


Class 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

George   Luther  Stearns 


UNIVERSITY 

OF 

^LiFOrvMA^ 


GEORGE  L.   STEARNS  IN  1863 


THE  LIFE 


AND 


PUBLIC  SERVICES 


OF 


George  Luther  Stearns 


BY 
FRANK  PRESTON  STEARNS 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  REAL  AND  IDEAL  IN  LITERATURE,"  "SKETCHES  FROM  CONCORD 
AND  AFPLEDORB,"  "MODERN  ENGLISH  PROSE  WRITERS,"  "THE  MID 
SUMMER  OF  ITALIAN  ART,"  "  FOUR  GREAT  VENETIANS," 
"THE  LIFE  OF  BISMARCK,"  " TINTORETTO,"  ETC. 


PHILADELPHIA  &  LONDON 

J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT   COMPANY 

1907 


COPYRIGHT,  1907 
BY  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 


Published  November,  1907 


WITH  THE 

COMPLIMENTS  OF  THE  AUTHOR 


Electrotyped and  Printed by  J.  B.  Lippincott  Company 
The  Washington  Square  Press,  Philadelphia,  U.  S.  A. 


INSCRIBED  TO  MY  HEROIC  BROTHER 

HENRY  LAURENS  STEARNS 


171143 


"Those  who  see  the  half  of  a  matter  are  inclined  to 
talk,  and  to  say  a  great  deal ;  those  who  see  the  whole 
feel  inclined  to  act,  and  speak  late  or  not  at  all." 


PREFACE 

AT  the  time  of  George  L.  Stearns'  death,  Whit- 
tier  and  Emerson  united  in  paying  their  finest 
tribute  to  the  character  and  public  services  of  a 
man  whom  they  considered  to  surpass  all  others 
they  had  known  in  magnanimity  and  disinterested 
endeavor.  This,  however,  was  soon  forgotten  in 
the  whirl  of  fresh  events,  and  the  new  issues  which 
came  with  them ;  and  another  generation  came  onto 
the  stage  to  whom  his  name  was  no  longer  familiar. 
It  is  hoped  that  the  present  biography  will  do  much 
to  restore  his  former  reputation.  There  were  more 
important  men  in  those  days,  it  must  be  admitted, 
but  it  was  the  peculiar  excellence  of  Mr.  Stearns' 
work  that  he  repeatedly  served  to  fill  a  gap  in 
public  affairs  for  which  no  one  else  would  seem  to 
have  been  prepared. 

This  account  of  him  has  been  compiled  partly 
from  documentary  evidence  and  in  part  from  family 
traditions,  which,  if  not  true  to  the  letter,  are 
substantially  true;  and  this  is  all  that  can  be  ex 
pected  of  documentary  evidence  when  it  relates 
to  facts  which  are  not  before  the  eye  of  the  writer. 
Instances  of  this  are  Mr.  Stearns*  speech  on  the 
eve  of  Lincoln's  election  and  the  conversation  at 

vii 


PREFACE 

the  railway  station  after  the  Worcester  convention. 
The  writer  was  present  on  both  occasions,  and, 
although  he  may  not  remember  the  exact  language, 
he  retains  a  distinct  impression  of  the  statements 
that  were  made.  The  recollections  of  our  youth 
are  much  more  tenacious  and  vivid  than  those  of 
our  later  years. 

Thackeray  and  other  great  students  of  human 
nature  have  recognized  this  tenacity  of  youthful 
impressions,  but  the  knowledge  of  truth  comes  with 
experience  and  the  sense  of  veracity  is  acquired 
in  much  the  same  manner  that  a  violinist  learns 
to  know  when  his  strings  are  tuned  to  the  right 
pitch.  We  know  it  by  the  sound. 


Contents 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    ANCESTRY  AND  BOYHOOD 13 

II.    MAKING  THE  MAN 27 

III.  MARY  ELIZABETH  PRESTON  41 

IV.  THE  HUNGARIANS 66 

V.    THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW 81 

VI.  THE  KANSAS  STRUGGLE 96 

VII.  THE  KANSAS  AID  COMMITTEE in 

VIII.  JOHN  BROWN 129 

IX.  PEACE  AND  PROSPERITY 147 

X.  A  CONSPIRACY 159 

XI.  BUILDING  A  HOUSE 174 

XII.  HARPER'S  FERRY 183 

XIII.  THE  INVESTIGATING  COMMITTEE 199 

XIV.  THE  GREAT  ELECTION 219 

XV.    CIVIL  WAR  235 

XVI.    WATCHING  FOR  THE  HOUR 255 

XVII.    EMANCIPATION 270 

XVIII.    THE  COLORED  REGIMENTS 285 

XIX.    ASSISTANT  ADJUTANT-GENERAL 301 

XX.    MAJOR  STEARNS  RESIGNS 321 

XXI.    RECONSTRUCTION 339 

XXII.    A  PERFIDIOUS  PRESIDENT 358 

XXIII.     REST  AT  LAST 373 

APPENDIX  . .          391 


List   of  Illustrations 

PACK 

GEORGE  L.  STEARNS  IN  1863 Frontispiece 

REV.  SAMUEL  JOHNSON 64 

CHARLES  SUMNER 114 

FRANK  B.  SANBORN 136 

RESIDENCE  OF  MAJOR  STEARNS 174 

MR.  STEARNS'  BUST  OF  JOHN  BROWN 194 

DAVID  A.  WASSON 220 

CAPT.  J  AMES  MONTGOMERY,  OF  KANSAS 226 

SALMON  P.  CHASE 250 

HENRY  C.  CAREY 302 

MAJOR  GEORGE  L.  STEARNS 320 

THEOPHILUS  PARSONS,   PROFESSOR  IN  HARVARD  LAW 

SCHOOL 348 

MRS.  MARY  E.  STEARNS  IN  HER  GARDEN 376 

GEORGE  LINDSLEY  STEARNS,   GRANDSON  OF   GEORGE 

LUTHER  STEARNS 386 


The  Life  and  Public  Services 
•f 

George  Luther  Stearns 


i 

ANCESTRY  AND  BOYHOOD 

ISAAC  STERNE,  the  first  representative  of  the 
Sterne  or  Stearns  family  in  America,  came  from 
the  town  of  Stoke  in  Suffolk  County,  England; 
and,  together  with  his  wife,  Mary  Barker,  of  the 
same  place,  crossed  the  ocean  in  1630  in  the  same 
ship  with  Governor  Winthrop,  Sir  Richard  Salton- 
stall,  and  Rev.  George  Phillips,  landing  at  Salem 
on  the  1 2th  of  June.*  Finding  the  land  about 
Salem  already  preoccupied,  he  moved  to  a  place 
now  called  Watertown,  on  the  Charles  River,  where 
he  lived  until  his  death  in  1671.  He  was  fre 
quently  chosen  one  of  the  selectmen  of  the  small 
settlement,  and  acted  as  foreman  in  building  the 
first  bridge  across  the  Charles  River.  He  left 
property  valued  at  nearly  three  thousand  dollars, 
and  a  lineal  descendant,  Mrs.  White,  recently  lived 
on  the  ground  he  cultivated. 

*  New  England  Genealogical  and  Historical  Register. 
13 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

Coats  of  arms  have  no  value  in  America  except 
as  historical  relics;  but  in  that  line  they  are 
often  interesting  and  significant.  The  device  now 
claimed  by  the  Sterne  family  in  England,  which 
is  a  numerous  family  in  Cambridge,  Hereford,  and 
Norfolk  counties,  is  a  shield  with  three  Malta 
crowns  on  a  gold  ground  divided  by  a  bar  chevron. 
The  meaning  of  the  bar  is  not  very  clear,  but  the 
crosses  are  such  as  were  worn  by  crusaders,  and 
naturally  indicate  that  three  knights  of  the  Sterne 
family  went  to  the  crusades,  and  perhaps  the  one 
beneath  the  bar  lost  his  life  in  them.  Among  the 
effects  of  Dr.  Luther  Stearns,  however,  was  found 
a  wholly  different  coat  of  arms  finely  engraved  on 
linen  paper,  so  that  it  must  have  come  from  Eng 
land  sometime  during  the  eighteenth  century.  It 
represented  a  shield  divided  perpendicularly,  with 
a  lion  and  a  battle  axe  on  a  red  field  on  the  right, 
and  on  the  left  three  doves  on  a  field  divided  gold 
and  azure — certainly  a  brilliant  device.  Lions 
were  very  common  on  armorial  bearings  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  usually  indicated  that  the  origi 
nal  possessor  had  been  knighted  for  bravery  on 
the  field  of  battle.  Doves  were  the  emblem  of  a 
gentle  nature  and  modest  behavior.  No  device 
could  better  represent  the  character  of  the  man 
whose  biography  we  have  before  us. 

English  coats  of  arms  are  in  no  sense  an  indi 
cation  of  noble  descent.  They  merely  prove  that 
the  families  bearing  them  existed  during  the  feudal 
period,  and  bore  the  rank  of  knighthood.  There 
is  one  for  almost  every  respectable  family  in  Great 
Britain. 

14 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

The  energies  of  the  early  colonists  were  fully 
occupied  with  fighting  the  Indians  and  wringing 
their  subsistence  from  a  rocky  and  stubborn  soil. 
This  period,  which,  after  all,  was  essential  to  the 
development  of  the  nation,  bears  a  faint  resem 
blance  to  the  Dark  Ages  of  Europe.  It  was  the 
period  of  Salem  witchcraft,  and  the  not  quite  un 
reasonable  persecution  of  the  Quakers.  It  must 
have  been  during  this  time  of  popular  ignorance 
that  so  many  English  surnames  became  changed 
in  America,  as  Sayer  into  Sears,  Eyre  into  Ayer 
and  Ayers,  Alcock  into  Alcott,  and  Sterne  into 
Sternes,  and  finally  Stearns.* 

That  the  change  happened  in  this  manner  is  evi 
dent  from  a  legal  document  still  preserved  in  the 
Revere  House  at  Lunenburg,  Mass.,  drawn  up  and 
signed  in  a  clear,  vigorous  handwriting  by  Rev. 
David  Stearns,  who  was  clergyman  of  the  first 
parish  of  that  town  between  1740  and  1760. 

The  Stearns  family  have  never  shown  an  incli 
nation  for  city  life,  evidently  preferring  the  fresh 
air  and  less  restricted  activity  of  the  country. 
From  Watertown  they  spread  northward  and  west 
ward,  and  earned  their  living  chiefly  as  farmers, 
teachers,  and  clergymen — sometimes  as  all  three 
together. 

While  David  Stearns  was  preaching  strong 
Calvinistic  doctrine  at  Lunenburg,  his  second 
cousin,  John  Stearns,  was  fighting  as  a  captain  in 
the  French  and  Indian  Wars.  With  the  pay  of 
various  small  offices,  and  successful  farming,  he 

*In  his  last  will  Isaac  Sterne  spelled  his  name  Sternes. 
15 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

sent  four  sons  to  Harvard  College,  and  five  of  his 
sons  took  part  in  the  War  of  Independence.  His 
most  distinguished  descendant  was  Onslow  Stearns, 
who  was  governor  of  New  Hampshire  in  1869, 
1870,  and  was  a  prominent  railroad  magnate  in 
New  England  for  some  forty  years. 

More  than  twenty  members  of  the  Stearns 
family  drew  a  sword  or  shouldered  a  musket  in  the 
cause  of  American  independence.  Foremost  among 
these  was  Captain  Josiah  Stearns,  who  commanded 
a  company  of  fifty  men  from  Lunenburg.  He  was 
the  son  of  Thomas  Stearns  of  Littleton,  and  nephew 
to  Rev.  David  Stearns.  After  the  war  he  became 
an  important  person  in  Worcester  County,  was 
repeatedly  elected  to  the  state  legislature  and  finally 
to  the  council  of  Governor  Samuel  Adams  for 
three  successive  years.  He  died  April  6,  1822, 
above  ninety  years  of  age,  and  in  his  epitaph  we 
find  the  following: 

"  He  discharged  the  obligations  of  a  citizen  and  magis 
trate   with   integrity,   prudence   and   fidelity." 

He  had  five  children,  of  whom  the  eldest,  Luther, 
was  the  father  of  George  L.  Stearns,  and  the 
youngest,  Thomas,  became  the  father  of  Dr.  Oliver 
Stearns,  a  professor  in  Harvard  Divinity  School. 

Dr.  Luther  Stearns  was  born  February  17,1 770, 
and  entered  Dartmouth  College  at  the  age  of  seven 
teen.  He  preferred,  however,  to  graduate  at  Har 
vard,  which  he  did  in  1791,  taking  high  rank  in  his 
class.  He  was  a  tutor  at  Harvard  for  some  years, 
and  finally  studied  medicine  at  the  same  institution. 
On  December  29,  1799,  he  was  married  to  Miss 

16 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Mary  Hall,  of  Brattleboro,  Vt,  who  was  then  but 
sixteen  years  of  age.  Early  marriages  in  those 
days  were  the  rule  for  women  rather  than  the 
exception;  nor  do  the  wives  of  our  grandfathers 
appear  to  have  been  any  the  worse  for  it.  Miss 
Hall  had  influential  relatives  in  Boston,  the  Board- 
mans  and  Lawrences,  and  this  fact  probably  deter 
mined  Dr.  Stearns  to  locate  himself  in  that  vicinity 
instead  of  returning  to  his  native  place.  He  there 
fore  purchased  a  modest-looking  house  in  Medford, 
on  Main  Street,  near  the  Middlesex  Canal,  which 
ran  fron  Boston  to  Lowell.  Both  house  and  canal 
disappeared  some  fifty  years  ago,  and  Summer 
Street  now  occupies  the  ground  where  boats  were 
hauled  in  summer  and  boys  skated  in  winter. 

Dr.  Stearns'  first  child  was  not  born  until  he 
had  been  married  more  than  six  years.  It  proved 
to  be  a  girl,  who  was  named  Elizabeth  Hall  for 
her  grandmother.  His  eldest  son,  George  Luther 
Stearns,  was  born  January  8,  1809,  and  his  second 
son  was  born  in  1812,  and  named  Henry  Laurens 
after  the  American  Ambassador  of  that  name,  who 
was  distantly  related  to  the  family. 

Dr.  Stearns  quickly  obtained  a  good  reputation 
as  an  obstetrician,  for  which  he  received  an  honor 
ary  degree  from  the  Medical  School  in  1811. 
Although  his  practice  in  Medford  afforded  him  a 
livelihood,  he  foresaw  that  it  would  not  be  sufficient 
to  educate  his  children  as  he  desired,  and  about  two 
years  after  the  birth  of  Henry  he  opened  a  prepara 
tory  school  for  boys,  which  soon  became  celebrated, 
so  that  pupils  were  sent  to  him  from  the  Southern 
states  and  the  West  Indies. 
2  17 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

An  old  settler  of  Medford  once  described  him  to 
me  as  a  very  pleasant  man,  not  much  given  to  jest 
ing,  but  of  a  remarkably  smooth,  even  tempera 
ment,  well  suited  to  his  wife,  who  was  a  very  deter 
mined  woman,  high-spirited,  and  rather  imperious. 
So  it  is  with  two  partners  in  business:  if  one  is 
inclined  to  be  strict  and  conservative,  the  other  be 
comes  more  liberal  and  enterprising.  Dr.  Stearns 
was  noted  for  his  goodness  to  the  poorer  citizens 
of  Medford,  and  every  Christmas  eve  he  and  his 
wife  made  up  a  number  of  packages  of  useful 
articles,  which  he  afterward  carried  about  the  town 
in  his  sulky  and  distributed  where  they  would  do 
the  most  good. 

One  of  George  Stearns'  earliest  recollections  was 
meeting  Judah  Touro,  a  celebrated  Israelite  of  those 
times,  who  said  to  him :  "  George !  where  is  your' 
father  ?  "  "  To  home,  sir,"  replied  the  boy.  "  At 
home,  you  dog,"  said  the  Jew,  correcting  his 
grammar. 

The  life  of  country  doctors  is  one  of  the  hardest 
and  most  unprofitable  that  a  man  can  live.  They 
may  be  called  up  at  any  hour  of  the  night,  and 
obliged  to  drive  for  miles,  receiving  little  or  no 
compensation  in  return.  They  are  never  more  than 
half  paid  for  their  services,  and  their  wives  never 
can  tell  whether  they  will  come  home  to  dinner  or 
supper.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  this  severe  life, 
united  with  the  duties  of  his  school  and  an  enthusi 
astic  temperament,  wore  out  Dr.  Stearns  before 
his  time.  On  April  27,  1820,  there  was  a  sharp 
change  in  the  weather,  and  the  doctor  returned 
to  his  house  with  a  woe-begone  face  and  a  pain  in 

18 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

his  side.  Another  doctor  was  sent  for,  who  pro 
nounced  it  pneumonia,  or,  as  it  was  then  called, 
lung  fever.  The  proper  treatment  for  that  dis 
order  had  not  yet  been  discovered,  and  on  the  fol 
lowing  day  Luther  Stearns  was  dead. 

Mrs.  Mary  Hall  Stearns  was  not  an  emotional 
person,  and  there  were  few  who  ever  saw  her  shed 
a  tear.  She  went  through  the  funeral  ceremonies 
of  her  husband  with  stoical  firmness;  then  she 
went  to  bed  and  was  sick  for  a  week.  From  this 
time  forth  she  became  a  power  in  the  community 
such  as  the  good  people  of  Medford  never  dreamed 
of.  She  engaged  a  teacher,  a  Mr.  Angier,  to 
carry  on  her  husband's  school,  she  succeeded  to  his 
influence  in  the  church,  and  ruled  society  like  a 
drill-sergeant.  She  was  of  a  large  figure,  broad- 
shouldered,  and  walked  with  a  cane  like  a  justice  of 
the  peace.  Twenty  years  later  it  was  said  that 
everybody  in  the  village  was  afraid  of  her. 

It  may  be  suspected  that  George  L.  Stearns  lost 
his  best  friend  in  his  father.  He  had  no  reason  to 
complain  of  any  neglect  on  the  part  of  his  mother, 
but  she  was  not  a  sympathetic  person  and  could  not 
enter  into  the  spirit  of  his  youthful  life,  or  share 
his  joys  and  troubles.  Moreover,  as  often  happens 
with  mothers,  she  felt  a  partiality  for  her  youngest 
son,  who  was  handsomer  and  more  attractive  than 
George,  though  not  to  be  compared  with  him  in  in 
tellectual  ability.  The  general  public,  however, 
usually  makes  amends  for  these  favoritisms,  and 
the  child  petted  at  home  is  not  liked  so  well  abroad. 

On  the  whole,  Madam  Stearns'  children  had 
small  reason  to  complain  of  her;  for  she  brought 

19 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

them  up  in  the  way  they  should  go,  and  looked  after 
their  interest  with  a  falcon's  eye.  Originally  a 
strict  Calvinist,  she  became  a  Unitarian  in  Dr. 
Channing's  time,  when  Harvard  College  and  Bos 
ton  society  changed  its  religious  base ;  but  she  never 
assimilated  those  optimistic  theories  in  the  Uni 
tarian  faith  which  approach  so  closely  to  fatalism. 
She  may  not  have  believed  in  total  depravity,  but 
she  looked  on  evil  as  something  real  and  tangible, 
which  we  must  fight  against  in  others,  as  well  as  in 
ourselves.  She  did  not  trust  to  Providence  for  the 
welfare  of  her  children,  but  kept  the  reins  in  her 
own  hand.  She  paid  strict  attention  to  their  man 
ners  and  their  morals,  for  she  said  that  the  one  was 
of  little  value  without  the  other.  Especially  she 
inculcated  the  importance  of  truth-telling.*  Her 
boys  were  obliged  to  be  in  bed  at  night  and  up  in 
the  morning  at  a  certain  stroke  of  the  clock;  not 
to  waste  time  in  dressing,  not  to  make  noise  in  the 
house  nor  to  interrupt  older  people,  nor  to  be  late 
at  their  meals,  nor  talk  at  the  table.  That  they 
should  be  diligent  students  was  a  matter  of  course. 
She  would  prefer  to  see  them  dead  rather  than 
they  should  grow  up  in  idle,  vicious  courses. 

Although  George  found  his  mother's  home  dis 
cipline  rather  severe,  and  it  often  seemed  to  him 
unreasonable,  he  was  thankful  for  it  in  the  end, 
and  readily  admitted  that  he  owed  his  best  virtue 
to  it.  In  her  old  age  Madam  Stearns  lamented 
the  indulgent  and  neglectful  manner  in  which  her 
wealthy  neighbor's  children  were  being  brought 

*  These   were   her  last   words   to  her   grandchildren. 
20 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

up.  "  They  would  never  come  to  a  good  end 
educated  in  that  fashion,"  she  would  say,  a  veri 
table  prophecy  which  has  long  since  been  fulfilled. 

There  was  neither  art  nor  literature  in  America 
at  that  time.  The  hardening  effect  of  two  wars 
with  Great  Britain  had  crushed  out  the  germs  of 
both,  and  it  was  long  before  they  revived  sufficiently 
to  sprout  again.  The  earliest  American  poet,  or 
poetess,  Maria  del  Occident,  lived  in  Medford,  but 
few  remembered  her  name,  and  fewer  her  plaintive 
verses.  Madam  Stearns  knew  no  literature  and 
wanted  no  literature.  There  were  few  books  in  her 
husband's  library  besides  medical  works  and  his 
college  text-books.  There  was  a  history  of  the 
world  in  some  twenty  odd  volumes  which  she  occa 
sionally  looked  into,  but  as  for  novels,  she  had  no 
good  opinion  of  them.  Women  wasted  much  time 
in  reading  fiction  which  ought  to  be  spent  in  knit 
ting  and  sewing.  If  she  had  a  peculiarity  it  was 
her  aversion  to  poetry.  The  reading  of  it,  she 
claimed,  had  a  weakening  effect  on  both  mind  and 
body;  and  as  for  writing  verses,  any  young  man 
who  slipped  into  that  habit  was  spoiled  for  all  other 
purposes. 

This  was  partly  excusable  on  account  of  the 
fashionable  rage  for  Byron's  "  Childe  Harold,"  and 
Mrs.  Stearns  quickly  recognized  the  danger  to 
youthful  minds  from  the  peculiar,  fascinating  qual 
ity  of  Byron's  verse.  Nothing  describes  her  better 
than  her  own  favorite  saying,  that  more  than  half 
the  sugar  that  is  made  is  worse  than  wasted.  She 
was  thoroughly  real,  thoroughly  in  earnest,  free 


21 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

from  vanity  and  all  forms  of  affectation — an  excel 
lent  type  of  the  old  New  England  Puritan. 

There  was  no  danger  of  George  Stearns  taking 
to  verse-making,  and  his  temperament  was  too 
active  for  very  hard  study.  He  was  not  one  of  the 
best  scholars  of  the  school,  and  yet  he  might  easily 
have  gone  to  college  had  circumstances  favored  it. 
He  revelled  in  arithmetic,  and  when  he  had  reached 
decimal  fractions  he  began  at  the  end  of  the  book 
and  studied  backward;  but  he  did  not  like  lan 
guages  so  well.  He  learned  enough  Latin  to  read 
Caesar  and  Virgil,  but  he  never  studied  Greek ;  and 
as  for  modern  languages,  they  were  not  considered 
of  much  importance. 

His  father's  death  must  have  made  a  severe  im 
pression  on  the  young  boy,  for  there  never  was  a 
more  affectionate,  tender-hearted,  and  sympathetic 
person  than  George  L.  Stearns.  There  was  no 
effusive  sentiment  in  him,  for  his  nature  was  too 
deep  to  show  itself  readily  upon  the  surface,  and  his 
regard  for  his  relatives  and  friends  was  always 
expressed  in  deeds  rather  than  words.  That  he 
treated  others  better  than  they  treated  him  was  a 
fact  that  never  seemed  to  occur  to  him ;  or,  if  it  did, 
he  brushed  it  aside  as  unworthy  of  consideration. 
It  is  said  of  the  poet  Schiller  that  when  he  was  at 
school  he  showed  a  tendency  to  give  away  every 
thing  he  had,  even  to  the  buckles  on  his  shoes ;  and 
this  boy  George  would  certainly  have  done  the 
same  if  there  had  been  buckles  to  give.  He  fastened 
his  shoes  with  leather  thongs,  and  to  the  end  of  his 
life  he  never  wore  any  ornament  excepting  a  modest 
gold  watch-chain. 

22 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Although  he  was  shy  and  sensitive,  there  was 
nothing  of  the  milksop  in  his  composition,  as  those 
boys  at  the  school  who  attempted  to  domineer  over 
him  discovered,  often  to  their  cost.  In  1863,  when 
he  was  organizing  the  colored  regiments  at  Phila 
delphia,  the  auctioneer,  James  Furness,  said  to  his 
brother,  Rev.  William  H.  Furness :  "  That  George 
Stearns  was  the  toughest  little  fighter  we  had  at 
school:  he  never  knew  when  he  was  whipped." 
He  was  not  naturally  quarrelsome,  but  on  the  con 
trary  peaceable  and  kindly  disposed  to  every  one. 
He  even  disliked  the  contention  of  a  common  argu 
ment;  but  the  exceptional  modesty  of  his  nature 
served  as  an  inducement  to  the  ruder  sort  of  boys 
to  worry  and  impose  on  him. 

Vicious  boys  should  always  be  distinguished 
from  those  that  are  simply  mischievous.  Among 
twenty-five  or  thirty  schoolboys  there  will  usually 
be  eight  or  ten  who  are  industrious  and  well- 
behaved,  and  perhaps  five  or  six  who  are  idle, 
impudent,  and  knavish.  Vicious  boys  sometimes 
reform  themselves  when  they  reach  years  of  dis 
cretion,  but  they  are  more  likely  to  end  life  miser 
ably.  There  was  one  boy  at  Madam  Stearns* 
school  with  whom  George  had  several  collisions; 
till  finally  one  rainy  Sunday  afternoon,  as  George 
put  his  head  out  of  the  schoolroom  window  to  see 
if  the  weather  was  clearing,  this  young  rascal 
dropped  the  sash  on  the  back  of  his  neck  (probably 
intended  for  his  shoulders)  so  that  it  tore  the  skin. 
George  turned  round,  and,  having  rested  a  moment, 
to  recover  from  the  effect  of  the  blow,  he  pitched 
into  his  enemy  and  gave  him  such  a  pommelling 

23 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

that  the  fellow  never  troubled  him  again.  Like 
Charles  XII  of  Sweden,  he  learned  to  fight  in  self- 
defence. 

He  took  the  cares  of  life  upon  his  shoulders  im 
mediately  after  his  father's  death.  He  looked  after 
his  younger  brother,  and  walked  to  church  with  his 
mother  on  Sundays.  He  looked  out  for  the  horse 
and  the  cow,  and  soon  had  to  take  care  of  these 
animals  himself,  as  well  as  do  other  chores  such 
as  boys  always  dislike.  At  the  same  time  he  knew 
how  to  enjoy  himself  in  a  boyish  way,  and  was 
not  at  all  like  a  premature  young  man.  It  was  a 
saying  of  his  in  after  life,  that  unless  a  boy  is 
thoroughly  a  boy,  he  will  never  make  a  genuine 
man.  The  old  settler  above  mentioned  said  of 
him :  "  He  was  an  active,  bright- faced  boy,  full  of 
life,  and  a  swift  runner."  This  last  is  a  curious 
physiological  fact,  as  George  was  never  skilful 
with  his  hands,  which  were  bony  and  a  trifle  large 
for  his  size.  He  found  writing  difficult,  and  could 
not  learn  to  play  a  musical  instrument,  though  he 
had  an  excellent  baritone  voice  for  singing.  At 
fourteen  he  often  ran  more  than  a  mile  at  a  time. 

Near  the  southern  boundary  of  Medford  there 
was  a  small  hill,  with  quite  a  large  brick  house  on 
it  built  about  the  year  1 800,  with  the  grounds  about 
it  laid  out  in  the  English  style.  Nobody,  however, 
liked  to  dwell  there  long.  It  passed  from  one  hand 
to  another,  and  at  the  time  of  which  we  write  the 
house  was  unoccupied.  George  and  his  school 
mates  were  fond  of  going  to  this  vacant  place  to 
romp  and  play  their  games.  Since  1845  ^  nas  been 
the  residence  of  his  family.  Mr.  Stearns  confessed 

24 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

that  as  a  boy  he  wished  he  could  own  it,  but  never 
expected  to  acquire  the  means  to  purchase  it. 

The  following  incident  illustrates  the  dominant 
trait  in  his  youthful  character.  On  Christmas  Day, 
1823,  there  was  uncommonly  fine  skating  on  the 
Middlesex  Canal.  Some  of  the  older  boys  sug 
gested  a  trip  to  Lowell,  more  than  twenty  miles 
away,  and  George  was  ambitious  to  follow  them. 
A  friend  of  Dr.  Luther  Stearns'  who  lived  in  that 
city  had  called  recently  on  his  mother  and  ex 
pressed  a  desire  for  George's  acquaintance.  The 
boy  reached  Lowell  safely  enough,  was  invited  to 
dinner,  and  his  father's  friend,  seeing  that  he  looked 
rather  tired,  advised  him  to  remain  over  night. 
The  following  day,  he  skated  from  Lowell  to 
Charlestown,  and  when  he  reached  his  home,  his 
mother  noticed  a  queer  expression  on  his  face. 
She  advised  him  to  wash  his  hands,  but  soon  heard 
a  strange  cry  from  the  wash-stand,  followed  by, 
"  Mother,  the  bowl  isn't  large  enough !  "  She  ran 
to  him  and  found  he  was  out  of  his  head.  Several 
feverish  days  in  bed  restored  him  to  his  usual  con 
dition  ;  but  he  had  taxed  his  strength  to  its  utmost 
limit,  having  skated  fifty  miles  in  less  than  thirty 
hours.  It  was  this  enthusiasm,  which  he  carried 
into  whatever  he  did,  that  gave  him  so  much  success 
in  life,  but  was  also,  at  last,  the  cause  of  his  death. 

In  order  to  earn  money,  he  sometimes  tended 
the  locks  on  the  canal.  On  rainy  Sundays  he 
would  go  to  the  garret  of  his  mother's  house  and 
read  his  father's  history  of  the  world  there.  That 
and  Dr.  Osgood's  lengthy  sermons  were  his  only 
mental  nourishment.  He  was  fond  of  perusing  the 

25 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

history  of  the  Crusaders,  without  ever  imagining 
that  he  should  one  day  buckle  on  his  armor  and 
become  a  crusader  himself. 

Elizabeth  Hall  Stearns  remains  merely  a  shadow 
to  us.  She  died  of  consumption  on  the  3Oth  of 
October,  1828.  The  manner  in  which  young  ladies 
were  brought  up  in  New  England  during  the  early 
part  of  the  nineteenth  century  often  proved  fatal 
to  the  more  fragile  sort.  They  wore  very  thin 
shoes,  and  were  restricted  in  such  articles  of  diet 
as  meat  and  butter,  which  would  have  helped  to 
fortify  them  against  the  rigor  of  the  climate.  Her 
death  must  have  been  a  loss  to  George  in  many 
ways,  for  an  elder  sister  is  a  great  help  to  a  boy 
socially;  but  he  never  talked  about  her,  nor  did 
others  who  were  acquainted  with  his  mother's 
family. 

Henry  Laurens  Stearns  was  wholly  different 
from  his  brother.  He  might  be  described  as  an 
instance  of  happy  mediocrity.  As  nature  had  en 
dowed  George  with  a  great  deal  of  character,  she 
seems  to  have  left  his  brother  too  little.  He  was 
amiable  without  much  force,  intelligent  without 
any  special  talent,  and  good  without  being  particu 
larly  virtuous.  So  long  as  he  lived  with  his  brother 
and  worked  beside  him,  he  continued  to  prosper  as 
a  respectable  citizen ;  but  when  he  separated  from 
George  he  would  seem  to  have  become  like  a  ship 
without  a  rudder — drifted  onto  the  rocks,  and 
went  to  pieces.  George  must  have  been  fond  of 
him,  for  he  named  his  eldest  son  for  him. 


26 


II 

MAKING  THE  MAN 

VERY  slight  material  now  exists  from  which  to 
form  an  account  of  Mr.  Stearns'  life  from  his  fif 
teenth  to  his  thirty-fifth  year;  and  this  is  commonly 
the  case  with  distinguished  men.  A  Byron  or  a 
Schiller  may  start  up  suddenly  before  the  public 
at  the  age  of  manhood,  and  be  able  to  sustain  the 
position  he  has  gained,  but  he  pays  for  it  with  a 
short-lived  existence.  Hard  wood  is  of  slow 
growth;  and  the  hero  of  a  college  class  rarely 
proves  a  hero  in  real  life.  As  Lowell  says : 

"The  man  whose  boy  genius  was  likened  to  Pascal's,  is 
lucky  at  forty  if  he  's  not  found  a  bore." 

George  Stearns  was  not  a  genius,  but  there  was 
an  invisible  something  in  him  which  was  gradually 
forming  the  nucleus  of  a  heroic  nature,  quite  as 
valuable  as  genius. 

After  teaching  Mrs.  Stearns'  school  for  over  two 
years,  Mr.  Angier  evidently  concluded  that  he  had 
done  enough  for  her,  and  having  the  pupils  fairly 
in  his  possession,  he  took  them  away  and  set 
up  a  school  for  himself.  As  he  did  this  without 
warning  or  even  without  asking  for  an  increase  of 
salary,  it  was  looked  upon  as  a  very  mean  proceed 
ing;  and  twenty  years  later,  when  Mr.  Angier 
came  to  an  untimely  end  in  Texas,  Madam  Stearns 
considered  it  a  judgment  upon  him  for  his  ill  treat 
ment  of  her. 

27 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

George's  expectations  of  a  college  education  were 
thus  nipped  in  the  bud,  but  this  could  not  have 
troubled  him  so  much  as  the  loss  of  income  to  his 
mother.  He  was  not  fond  of  study,  and  in  all  his 
life  he  never  evinced  the  least  personal  ambition. 
He  did  not  even  trouble  himself,  as  an  aspiring 
young  man  is  apt  to,  in  regard  to  his  moral  and 
intellectual  development.  He  accepted  the  work 
that  lay  before  him  without  considering  whether  it 
would  be  good  for  him  or  not. 

As  it  happened,  the  loss  of  the  school  was  a 
decided  advantage  to  him.  If  George  had  gone 
to  college  he  would  inevitably  have  become  either 
a  clergyman  or  a  country  doctor,  and  though  he 
would  no  doubt  have  succeeded  in  either  of  these 
professions,  he  was  not  so  well  qualified  for  them 
by  nature  as  he  was  for  a  mercantile  life,  and  he 
never  could  have  obtained  the  means  for  those  phil 
anthropic  works  for  which  he  is  now  distinguished. 
His  one  object  in  life  at  this  time  was  to  earn  money 
to  assist  his  family,  and  the  shorter  the  road  to  this 
the  better.  It  was  decided  that  the  following 
spring  he  should  go  to  Brattleboro  and  serve  in 
his  uncle's  store. 

In  the  days  before  railroads,  towns  like  Concord, 
Keene,  and  Brattleboro  were  small  commercial 
centres,  and  had  each  its  dry-goods,  hardware,  and 
grocery  stores  on  a  scale  like  those  of  a  populous 
city.  They  were  conducted  by  a  different  class  of 
men  from  those  who  keep  country  stores  at  present, 
and  did  not  suffer  from  the  sharp  competition  which 
the  railroads  have  introduced,  and  which  makes  the 
lives  of  retail  dealers  a  burden  to  them.  It  was 

28 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

a  hardware  store  that  was  kept  by  Madam  Stearns' 
brother,*  and  this  fact  had  a  determining  effect  on 
George's  future  line  of  industry. 

He  started  for  Brattleboro  one  evening  in  April, 
1824,  and  passed  the  night  at  a  tavern  in  West 
Cambridge,  in  order  to  take  the  Fitchburg  stage 
at  daybreak  the  following  morning.  The  building 
still  exists  and  has  been  transformed  to  a  fire-engine 
house.  As  Mr.  Stearns  often  passed  it  in  his  car 
riage  in  later  years,  he  spoke  more  than  once  of  the 
loneliness  of  that  night,  and  the  sort  of  horror 
that  he  felt  at  leaving  his  family  and  friends  for  so 
long  a  time. 

He  was  three  years  and  a  half  at  Brattleboro, 
during  which  time  he  returned  to  his  home  only  for 
very  short  summer  vacations.  No  vestige  of  his 
life  there  now  exists.  The  store  has  disappeared; 
the  Hall  family  has  disappeared;  and  no  person 
now  living  there  remembers  him.  He  must  have 
written  to  his  mother,  but  the  Stearns  family  dis 
liked  letter-writing,  and  people  who  do  not  care 
for  letters  are  not  likely  to  preserve  them.  Brattle 
boro  is  a  finely  situated  town,  none  finer  in  New 
England;  and  its  society  was  of  the  best,  but 
George's  sojourn  there  must  have  been  a  dreary 
one.  He  was  too  young  to  enjoy  general  society, 
and  there  were  no  games  for  boys  in  those  days 
except  such  as  they  could  improvise  on  the  moment. 
His  duties  were  not  arduous,  but  they  were  very 
confining.  He  learned  to  ride  horseback,  and  per- 

*  He  may  have  been  a  cousin,  but  my  recollection  is  a 
brother. 

29 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

haps  also  to  row  a  boat.  His  relatives  may  have 
been  kind  to  him,  but  he  does  not  appear  to  have 
made  lasting  friends.  William  M.  Hunt,  the  por 
trait  painter,  was  a  boy  in  Brattleboro  at  that  time, 
but  Mr.  Stearns  did  not  remember  him  although 
Hunt's  father  was  representative  to  Congress. 
George  was  very  glad  when,  on  returning  home  in 
August,  1827,,  his  Boston  relatives  obtained  a  place 
for  him  in  a  ship-chandler's  store  on  India  wharf. 

Ship-chandlery,  or  ship-furnishing,  was  then  an 
active  business.  Ships  from  the  United  States 
crossed  the  ocean  in  every  direction,  and  a  large 
portion  of  the  shipping  in  Europe  was  built  in  New 
England.  Sea-captains  from  Lynn  and  Salem 
went  to  China  and  became  rich  in  a  few  voyages. 
The  three  shipyards  in  Medford  and  Madam 
Stearns'  influence  there,  were  presumably  used 
as  inducements  to  obtain  George's  place  for  him. 

A  man  who  has  a  long  distance  to  run  begins 
slowly,  and  it  seemed  at  first  as  if  George  might 
not  succeed  in  his  new  position.  He  brought  with 
him  from  Brattleboro  the  shyness  of  the  country, 
which  prevented  him  from  understanding  clearly 
what  people  said  to  him ;  and  then  his  handwrit 
ing  was  against  him.  At  the  end  of  a  week  he  was 
bluntly  informed  that  mercantile  life  was  not  what 
he  was  made  for,  and  the  effect  of  this  may  be 
easily  fancied — all  his  brave  aspirations  crushed 
out  in  a  moment!  The  tears  started  to  his  eyes 
and  his  face  showed  such  pathetic  dejection  that 
his  employer  was  filled  with  compassion,  and  in 
stead  of  discharging  him  gave  him  some  good 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

advice  in  regard  to  his  writing.  A  month  later 
he  showed  such  intelligence  and  fidelity  in  the  per 
formance  of  his  duties  that  they  would  not  have 
parted  with  him  on  any  account.  It  was  the  crisis 
of  his  life. 

He  lived  in  Boston  in  the  most  economical  man 
ner.  His  chamber  was  in  the  attic  of  a  clerk's 
boarding-house;  and  there  he  spent  his  evenings 
writing  in  a  copy-book  or  on  sheets  of  foolscap, 
and  dipping  his  hands  in  hot  water  until  he  could 
make  his  stiff  fingers  do  their  duty.  In  this  way 
he  finally  acquired  a  plain,  neat,  and  legible  chirog- 
raphy,  though  not  of  the  best.  He  had  no  money 
to  spare  for  entertainments,  and  otherwise  he  spent 
his  evenings  in  reading  or  playing  cards  with  his 
fellow  lodgers.  On  Saturday  evening,  after  put 
ting  the  shutters  on  the  store,  he  would  walk  five 
miles  to  Medford  and  walk  back  again  on  Monday 
morning,  leaving  his  home  at  half-past  five  o'clock. 
He  once  said :  "  I  should  have  been  glad  to  walk 
it  every  day,  if  it  were  only  possible,  in  order  to 
escape  that  dismal  boarding-house." 

Handling  the  materials  at  the  ship-chandler's 
gave  him  plenty  of  exercise,  and  this  was  fortunate, 
for  otherwise  he  would  not  have  thought  of  taking 
it.*  It  was  a  dull,  hard,  monotonous  grind,  but 
gave  him  an  opportunity  to  speculate  on  commer 
cial  affairs  in  general  and  how  the  ship-chandler 
business  might  be  improved  in  particular.  This 
habit  of  mental  speculation  was  characteristic  of 

*  At  the  age  of  twenty-four  he  could  lift  four  hundred 
pounds  with  his  right  arm. 

31 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

him,  and  entertained  him  quite  as  much  as  tennis 
or  yachting  might  have.  After  two  or  three  years 
he  received  a  better  salary  and  could  afford  to  take 
life  more  comfortably.  He  liked  the  theatre,  but 
went  rarely  and  only  to  the  best  performances. 
He  hated  low  comedy,  and  could  not  endure  bad 
acting.  In  his  dress,  his  manners,  in  all  things 
his  tastes  were  very  refined. 

Meanwhile  the  Lawrences  and  other  Boston  con 
nections  of  his  mother  had  not  forgotten  him. 
They  invited  him  to  their  evening  entertainments, 
which,  he  once  said,  was  very  good  of  them,  "  for 
I  was  a  most  unprepossessing  youth."  Probably 
he  considered  himself  more  ill-favored  than  he 
really  appeared.  His  features  were  rugged,  but 
not  irregular.  He  had  very  handsome  eyes,  which 
ladies  alwrays  admire,  and  a  bright,  fresh  complex 
ion.  He  was  glad  to  be  remembered,  but  his 
serious  nature  did  not  find  much  comfort  in  fash 
ionable  society.  His  life  was  not  like  the  lives  of 
the  people  he  met  there,  and  he  felt  like  a  stranger 
among  them.  Amusements  form  the  staple  of 
conversation  between  young  people  of  both  sexes ; 
and  poor  George  had  little  or  no  amusement  to 
talk  of.  If  some  of  the  ladies  to  whom  he  was 
introduced  could  have  foreseen  his  future  pros 
perity,  they  might  have  taken  more  interest  in 
him.  For  the  present,  however,  he  was  only  a 
poor  relation.  He  always  remembered  one 
grandiose  woman  who  confused  him  by  talking 
about  scarlet-tanagers,  and  parti-colored  warblers. 
He  could  talk  well  enough  with  men,  provided  the 
subject  was  a  serious  one,  and  he  was  always  an 

32 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

attentive  listener;  but  once  having  escaped  from 
the  beau  monde,  he  felt  no  desire  to  enter  it  again. 

He  was  much  more  in  his  element  at  Dr.  Os- 
good's  little  church  in  Medford,  to  which  his 
mother  was  proud  to  walk  with  him  on  Sundays. 
There  he  soon  became  a  useful  and  even  important 
personage — superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school, 
church  treasurer,  and. the  like.  Dr.  Osgood  was 
a  veteran  from  the  time  of  Washington  and  Hamil 
ton,  a  vigorous  outspoken  preacher,  who  had  a 
telling  manner  of  expounding  the  moral  law  and 
of  applying  scriptural  tenets  to  modern  practices. 
Neither  did  he  avoid  political  subjects  when  he 
considered  that  questions  of  public  morality  were 
at  stake.  George  L.  Stearns  was  his  best  listener. 

In  1830  we  find  his  brother  Henry  also  has  a 
niche  in  the  mercantile  world  and  is  doing 
creditably. 

George  was  always  the  most  modest  of  men, 
without  at  the  same  time  being  diffident,  or  like 
Dickens'  character  of  Tom  Pinch.  Such  persons 
need  encouragement  at  times  to  compensate  for  the 
hustling  they  have  to  endure  from  the  more  for 
ward  portion  of  humanity.  In  1832  two  gay 
young  men  who  spent  the  whole  of  their  salaries 
on  dress  and  amusements  occupied  the  next  room 
to  George  in  his  lodging-house.  There  was  only 
a  board  partition  between  their  rooms,  and  one 
night  when  they  came  in  late  and  supposed  that 
George  was  asleep,  he  heard  one  of  them  say: 
"  Do  you  know,  I  envy  that  George  Stearns.  See 
how  he  devotes  himself  to  business,  and  what  self- 
control  he  has.  I  tell  you,  he  will  be  an  important 
3  33 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

man  one  of  these  days."  Previously  to  this, 
George  had  supposed  that  they  despised  his  plain, 
quiet  manners  and  still  plainer  dress ;  and  nothing 
that  ever  was  said  to  his  face  gave  him  so  much 
pleasure  as  this  unintentional  compliment  to  his 
stoical  life.  He  also  learned  from  it  what  good 
hearts  are  often  hidden  under  the  disguise  of  fine 
dress ! 

Mr.  Stearns  had  now  served  for  ten  years  as 
store-boy,  salesman,  and  book-keeper,  when  in 
1835  he  thought  he  saw  an  opportunity  for  making 
money  in  the  manufacture  of  linseed-oil,  an  article 
much  in  demand  for  ship-building.  He  consulted 
with  his  mother's  relatives,  who  thought  well  of 
the  enterprise,  but  at  the  same  time  offered  him 
no  assistance.  His  neighbor,  Deacon  Train, 
proved  to  be  more  helpful. 

Deacon  Train  was  a  prosperous  man  of  business, 
and  the  chief  pillar  in  the  Congregational  church 
at  Medford.  He  was  such  a  strict  old  Puritan  that 
he  never  took  notice  of  any  person,  high  or  low, 
on  his  way  to  church;  and  it  was  said  that  he 
never  missed  a  Sunday  service  during  twenty  years, 
except  when  under  the  doctor's  care.  He  had  a 
poor  opinion  of  Dr.  Osgood's  society,  but  he  recog 
nized  in  Mr.  Stearns  the  same  virtues  which  had 
been  the  secret  of  his  own  success.  He  had  several 
sons  who  illustrated  the  old  adage  in  regard  to 
the  children  of  deacons  and  ministers,  and  who 
never  came  to  good.  It  is  possible  that  he  had 
discovered  an  inclination  for  George  in  one  of  his 
daughters,  and  hoped  to  have  him  for  a  son-in-law 
in  whom  he  could  take  some  comfort.  At  all 

34 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

events  he  promised  to  loan  Mr.  Stearns  ten  thou 
sand  dollars,  provided  he  could  obtain  an  equal 
sum  from  some  other  quarter. 

George  returned  to  his  Boston  relatives  and  suc 
ceeded  in  borrowing  five  thousand  dollars  from 
them,  and  that  was  all.  In  this  emergency  Madam 
Stearns  heroically  mortgaged  her  homestead  for 
the  remainder — a  dangerous  thing  to  do,  but  the 
widow  felt  great  confidence  in  her  eldest  boy  and 
was  willing  to  risk  all  she  had  for  his  success  in 
life.  It  was  characteristic  of  Mr.  Stearns  also 
to  take  daring  risks;  but  they  suited  the  times  in 
which  he  lived. 

The  oil-mill  was  built  near  his  father's  old  resi 
dence,  and  close  by  the  ship-yard  of  Mr.  James  O. 
Curtis.  Mr.  Stearns'  expectations  were  realized 
from  the  first.  He  found  a  good  market  for  his 
oil,  and  in  three  years  he  was  able  to  repay  his 
mother  for  what  she  had  advanced.  He  took  his 
brother  into  partnership  and  gave  him  an  equal 
interest  in  the  profits,  although  he  must  have  been 
to  a  certain  extent  a  lay  figure. 

Such  enterprises  are  no  longer  possible  in  this 
portion  of  the  United  States,  if  they  are  anywhere 
in  America.  Some  giant  monopoly  would  crush 
out  the  infant  industry  after  it  had  been  fairly 
started;  would  have  ruined  Mr.  Stearns  and  his 
family;  and  at  last  would  have  bought  up  his 
plant  for  one-half  or  one-third  of  its  original  value. 
Fortunately  for  Mr.  Stearns,  he  lived  in  better 
times  than  the  present,  when  it  was  considered  the 
duty  of  the  old  to  help  the  young,  for  the  good  of 
the  state,  if  not  for  Christian  reasons,  and  when 

35 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

such  piratical  methods  of  business  were  not  in 
vogue. 

There  was  a  lady  in  Medford  with  an  invalid 
husband,  who  came  from  a  very  aristocratic  Boston 
family.  She  had  a  bright,  but  rather  plain 
daughter  for  whom  she  intended  to  make  a  dis 
tinguished  match;  but  the  daughter  was  more 
sensible  than  the  mother  and  counted  her  chances 
in  the  world's  market  at  their  proper  value.  She 
recognized  that  Mr.  Stearns  was  the  most  prom 
ising  young  man  in  her  neighborhood.  He  was 
much  too  modest  to  discover  her  partiality  for  him, 
which  was  plain  enough  to  the  gossips  of  the  place ; 
but  he  did  notice  her  mother's  manoeuvres  to  pre 
vent  their  coming  together  at  places  of  entertain 
ment.  The  aristocratic  mother  lived  to  see  her  son 
wed  the  daughter  of  a  common  tradesman,  and  her 
own  daughter  never  was  married  at  all. 

Meanwhile  Mr.  Stearns'  hopes  were  fixed  in  an 
other  direction.  We  find  in  the  town  records  oit 
Medford  that  on  December  20,  1835,  the  engage 
ment  was  published  of  Miss  Mary  Ann  Train  to 
George  Luther  Stearns,  and  that  they  were  mar 
ried  on  the  thirty-first  of  January  following  by  the 
Rev.  Levi  Pratt.  It  was  a  short  engagement,  but 
had  been  preceded  by  a  long  and  happy  courtship. 
She  has  been  described  as  a  "  cheerful,  vivacious 
young  lady  "  and  a  suitable  contrast  to  her  sober 
phlegmatic  husband.  Their  happiness,  however, 
was  of  brief  duration.  Mary  Train  Stearns  was 
only  twenty  years  of  age,  and  already  frail  and 
delicate.  In  the  spring  of  1840  she  began  to  be 
troubled  with  weakness  of  the  heart  and  was  ad- 

36 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

vised  by  the  doctor  to  go  to  the  hot  sulphur  springs 
of  Virginia,  which  served  the  medical  profession 
in  those  days  very  much  as  Colorado  does  at  pres 
ent.  Mr.  Stearns  went  with  her  there,  together 
with  her  father  and  sister,  but  she  only  returned 
to  Medford  to  die  early  in  October,  1840. 

Many  a  man  of  ability  has  spent  his  life  in 
the  pursuit  of  wealth  and  made  a  fortune,  to  dis 
cover  in  the  end  that  he  in  and  of  himself  is  noth 
ing.  Rufus  Choate  was  the  most  distinguished 
lawyer  of  his  time,  but  he  was  nothing  else.  He 
did  not  even  understand  politics,  and  his  sense  of 
justice  was  too  deficient  to  make  him  serviceable 
as  a  judge:  he  seemed  to  have  no  sense  of  the 
loftier  human  virtues.  What  did  it  avail  James 
Buchanan  to  gain  the  presidency  and  to  lose  his 
own  soul? 

Mr.  Stearns  never  forgot  the  duties  to  his  higher 
nature.  The  lesson  which  he  learned  as  a  boy  in 
his  devotion  to  the  interests  of  his  family  broad 
ened  with  years  into  an  interest  in  the  affairs  of 
state  and  church.  From  being  an  active  and  use 
ful  member  of  Dr.  Osgood's  society,  he  became  a 
prominent  layman  in  the  Unitarian  organization. 
He  attended  anniversary  meetings,  and  collected 
subscriptions ;  gave  freely  himself,  and  encouraged 
others  to  give. 

We  find  him  in  1842  helping  to  support  a  church 
in  Milwaukee,  which  was  then  on  the  confines  of 
civilization,  and  writing  letters  of  advice  to  his 
young  cousin,  Rev.  William  Gushing,  who  had 
lately  graduated  at  Harvard,  and  was  settled  in 

37 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

Michigan.  He  continued  in  this  wholesome  work 
for  twelve  years  or  more,  until  he  became  absorbed 
in  the  deeper  interest  of  the  anti-slavery  struggle. 
The  year  1841  was  memorable  to  Mr.  Stearns 
for  the  installation  of  Rev.  Caleb  Stetson  over  the 
First  Parish  in  Medford.  Vigorous  in  mind  and 
body,  this  remarkable  preacher  served  the  spirit 
of  his  age  as  Dr.  Osgood  had  before  him,  but  in  a 
very  different  manner.  In  Dr.  Osgood's  time  the 
much-needed  virtue  was  political  conservatism  and 
the  establishment  of  society  on  a  sound  basis ;  and 
after  that  was  accomplished  the  next  movement 
of  humanity  was  a  progressive  one — toward  relig 
ious  and  intellectual  freedom.  Mr.  Stetson  united 
a  keen  analytic  mind  to  a  fund  of  good  humor  and 
ready  wit,  not  unlike  that  of  Sidney  Smith  himself. 
He  belonged  to  a  class  of  reformers  who  were  not 
so  distinguished  as  the  extremists,  but  who  did 
perhaps  quite  as  much  good.  He  did  not  separate 
from  the  church  like  Emerson,  nor  did  he  oppose 
the  federal  constitution  like  Garrison;  for  he  be 
lieved  that  slavery  could  be  abolished  under  the 
Constitution,  and  that  an  elevated  and  spiritual 
theology  could  be  developed  within  the  Christian 
church;  and  time  has  justified  both  these  opinions. 
He  read  the  Dial  and  attended  Margaret  Fuller's 
Boston  conferences,  where  the  brightest  intellects 
of  New  England  were  assembled  together ;  but 
he  perceived  that  there  was  a  large  mixture  of 
sentimentality  in  the  transcendental  movement, 
and  his  practical  good  sense  enabled  him  to  win 
now  the  wheat  from  the  chaff.  He  preached  fear- 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

lessly  what  he  believed  to  be  for  the  benefit  of  his 
congregation,  but  he  went  no  further. 

With  such  a  man  Mr.  Stearns  could  find  very 
great  agreement,  and  they  soon  became  the  best 
of  friends.  At  this  period  of  his  life  Mr.  Stearns 
owned  a  fine  sorrel  mare  named  Fanny  Elssler,* 
who  could  make  a  mile  in  three  minutes;  and  when 
Rev.  Mr.  Stetson  wished  to  go  to  Boston  he  had 
only  to  call  on  Mr.  Stearns  at  an  early  hour  and 
off  they  would  start  with  Fanny  in  that  two- 
wheeled  vehicle  called  a  chaise.  The  conversations 
on  these  drives  were  advantageous  to  both  parties, 
as  Mr.  Stearns  had  already  a  wide  range  of  prac 
tical  experience  of  the  sort  which  is  most  difficult 
for  clergymen  to  obtain.  He  cared  little  for  phil 
osophy  or  the  poetic  rhapsodies  of  Margaret  Fuller, 
but  the  amelioration  of  society,  especially  in  Med- 
ford,  was  a  problem  ever  present  before  him. 

Another  stalwart  friend  of  Mr.  Stearns  during 
this  bachelor  interregnum  was  Thomas  Starr  King, 
then  master  in  the  Medford  high  school.  He  was 
a  remarkably  magnetic  man — perhaps  too  much  so 
for  his  own  good — and  always  a  fine  talker.  Mr. 
Stearns  himself  was  slow  of  speech,  he  hesitated 
in  the  midst  of  his  sentences,  and  had  no  choice 
vocabulary,  but  he  possessed  that  rare  commodity, 
a  logical  mind;  and  the  correctness  of  his  reason 
ing  \vas  always  interesting  to  intelligent  listeners. 

Meanwhile  the  linseed-oil  business  was  prosper 
ing,  and  in  this  same  year,  1841,  Albert  Fearing, 
who  had  been  a  partner  in  the  firm  where  Mr. 

*  Nearly  all  American  pets  in  1840  were  named  after 
this  danseuse. 

39 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Stearns  had  formerly  served  his  time,  now  wished 
to  join  with  him  in  the  ship-chandlery  business. 
This  was  a  grand  opportunity,  for  Mr.  Fearing 
held  a  high  position  and  it  would  enable  Mr. 
Stearns  to  turn  over  his  oil-mill  to  his  brother 
Henry;  but  capital  was  needed  for  the  enterprise. 
Mr.  Stearns  went  as  before  to  his  austere  friend 
Deacon  Train,  who  was,  after  all,  the  best  friend 
he  ever  had.  The  deacon  listened  to  his  proposi 
tion  and  said :  "  George,  my  daughter  is  gone 
from  us,  but  I  shall  always  consider  you  as  my 
son;  you  shall  have  the  money."  How  rare  is 
such  confidence  and  such  consideration! 

The  firm  of  Albert  Fearing  &  Co.  was  located 
at  No.  i  City  Wharf,  and  succeeded  so  well  that 
in  two  years  George  L.  Stearns  was  able  to  repay 
Deacon  Train  the  whole  of  his  loan.  It  was  not 
difficult  in  that  rapidly  growing  community  for 
men  to  make  money,  who  owned  a  little  capital  and 
kept  their  heads  balanced;  but  Mr.  Stearns  soon 
became  known  among  Boston  merchants  as  a  per 
son  of  stainless  integrity,  whose  word  was  as  good 
as  his  note;  and  this  afterwards  saved  him  where 
another  would  have  been  hopelessly  ruined. 

After  this  the  linseed-oil  business  was  well  man 
aged  by  Henry  L.  Stearns;  until,  unhappily,  in 
1847,  the  mill  burned  down,  leaving  a  tall,  square 
chimney  as  a  monument  to  the  enterprise  of  the 
Stearns  brothers. 


40 


Ill 

MARY  ELIZABETH  PRESTON 

THE  antislavery  conflict  in  the  United  States 
had  four  distinct  stages,  or  periods.  First  came 
the  period  of  moral  agitation,  in  which  Lundy, 
Garrison,  and  Phillips  were  most  conspicuous. 
Then,  about  1840,  the  question  entered  practical 
politics,  and  the  new  cause  brought  out  great  states 
men  like  Seward,  Chase,  and  Sumner.  Then  came 
the  revolutionary  period,  the  struggle  for  Kansas, 
in  which  John  Brown  was  the  central  figure;  and 
finally  the  Civil  War,  with  President  Lincoln's 
proclamation  of  emancipation. 

With  the  first  of  these  periods  Mr.  Stearns  had 
no  direct  connection.  To  his  practical  mind  the 
idea  of  abolishing  slavery  in  America  by  moral 
persuasion  seemed  like  a  delusion.  He  perceived 
what  Garrison  and  his  friends  did  not,  that  the 
emancipation  of  the  negroes  in  the  British  West 
Indies  was  a  wholly  different  affair  from  what  it 
would  be  in  the  United  States.  The  British  West 
Indies  are  isolated  dependencies  under  the  control 
of  a  distant  government,  and  the  slaveholders  in 
those  colonies  had  no  voice  in  the  jurisdiction  that 
was  exercised  over  them.  Mr.  Stearns  was  indig 
nant  enough  at  the  mobbing  of  Garrison,  but  he 
saw  that  this  was  a  natural  consequence  of  the 
antislavery  pamphlets  which  had  been  mailed  to 
prominent  slaveholders.  Yet  Garrison's  position 

4t 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

of  abstract  right  was  the  most  unassailable  he  could 
have  chosen,  and  made  the  most  profound  and 
lasting  impression  on  the  public  mind.  It  is  won 
derful  what  efficacy  abstract  theories  and  Utopian 
ideas  sometimes  possess  in  the  evolution  of  history. 
Mr.  Stearns,  however,  with  his  keen  sense  of 
justice,  believed  that  every  man  had  a  right  to  the 
fruits  of  his  labor.  It  is  probable  that  the  murder 
of  Love  joy  had  more  influence  with  him  than  the 
incisive  arguments  of  Garrison  or  the  poetic  elo 
quence  of  Phillips ;  but  he  had  toiled  hard  himself 
and  he  felt  for  those  who  labored  and  were  heavy 
laden.  When  the  Liberty  party  sprang  up  in  1840, 
his  resolution  was  taken.  He  was  the  only  gentle 
man  in  Medford  who  voted  for  General  Birney, 
and  the  only  support  he  received  was  from  an 
honest  carpenter  named  Japhet  Sherman  and  the 
night  watchman  at  his  mill,  whose  name  was 
Pullen.*  As  commonly  happens  with  reformers, 
he  received  little  encouragement  at  his  own  fire 
side.  After  the  death  of  his  first  wife  he  had  re 
turned  to  live  with  his  mother,  who  declared  that 
she  was  astonished  and  mortified  to  think  of  his 
joining  those  vulgar  fanatics.  His  brother  Henry 
always  sided  with  his  mother,  and,  in  fact,  was  lit 
tle  more  than  her  echo.  With  this  numerical  ma 
jority  against  him  in  his  own  home,  Mr.  Stearns' 
November  evenings  could  not  have  been  very  pleas 
ant,  but  he  was  soon  to  feel  the  force  of  public  opin 
ion  in  a  more  conspicuous  manner. 


*  This  old  original  Yankee  contracted  a  habit  of  drinking 
linseed   oil,   which   never    left   him. 

42 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Madam  Stearns  had  a  second  cousin  named 
Turill  Tufts,  an  old  bachelor  who  acquired  con 
siderable  property  in  the  Calcutta  trade,  and  after 
wards  bought  up  real  estate  in  the  centre  of  Med- 
ford.  He  was  supposed  to  think  well  of  George 
and  to  have  made  him  heir  to  a  portion  of  this 
property.  Coming  in  one  evening  to  the  Stearns 
homestead,  he  expressed  his  surprise  at  George's 
political  transition,  and,  being  supported  by  the 
old  lady,  the  discussion  soon  became  a  heated  one. 
Mr.  Stearns  disliked  contention,  but  when  he  had 
once  entered  into  an  argument,  the  whole  energy 
of  his  nature  was  brought  out  by  it,  and  as  Bronson 
Alcott  afterwards  said  of  him,  "  his  words  were 
bullets  and  on  occasion  he  could  use  a  battery." 

Turill  Tufts  retired  from  the  encounter  feeling 
much  aggrieved;  and  two  years  later,  when  he 
died,  and  his  relatives  were  called  together  to  hear 
the  reading  of  his  will,  Mr.  Stearns  was  the  only 
person  in  the  room  who  was  left  without  a  legacy. 
While  he  lived  he  never  forgot  the  sensation  of  that 
day:  it  seemed  as  if  every  eye  was  turned  upon 
him. 

The  bulk  of  Mr.  Tufts'  property  was  left  to  those 
who  needed  it  the  least.  His  real  estate  was  given 
to  a  very  distant  relative  of  Madam  Stearns ;  whose 
son  speculated,  failed,  and  lost  the  whole  of  it. 

During  the  winter  of  1842  George  and  Henry 
Stearns  were  much  in  Boston  society,  and  we 
learn  that  George  offered  himself  in  the  spring  to 
an  unknown  young  lady  who  dwelt  on  or  about 
Beacon  Street.  She  refused  him,  probably  because 
she  did  not  appreciate  him,  and  it  may  have  been 

43 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

a  fortunate  escape.  At  all  events  the  experience 
does  not  appear  to  have  made  a  deep  impression 
on  him. 

It  was  through  the  medium  of  Rev.  Caleb 
Stetson  that  Mr.  Stearns  finally  became  acquainted 
with  his  life-long1  domestic  partner.  On  the  day 
of  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  a  cracker-manufac 
turer,  of  Charlestown,  named  Francis,  fearing  a 
general  conflagration,  moved  his  family  and  his 
effects  to  Medford,  where  he  remained  for  thirty 
years  or  more.  His  son  continued  the  business, 
and  invented  those  hard  water-biscuit  which  were 
long  afterwards  known  as  Medford  crackers.  His 
son,  Convers  Francis,  became  a  Doctor  of  Divinity 
and  Professor  of  Pulpit  Eloquence  at  Harvard 
University;  his  daughter,  Lydia  Maria,  wedded 
David  Lee  Child;  and  another  daughter,  Mary 
Rand  Francis,  married  a  young  lawyer  named 
Warren  Preston,  and  went  with  him  to  Norridge- 
wock,  Maine,  where  he  was  chosen  Judge  of  Pro 
bate  for  the  county.  They  had  a  son,  Francis 
Warren,  who  finally  became  a  planter  in  Porto 
Rico,  and  four  daughters,  of  whom  the  second, 
Mary  Elizabeth  Preston,  is  the  one  with  whom  we 
are  now  chiefly  concerned.  She  resembled  her 
aunt,  Mrs.  Child,  much  more  than  she  did  her  own 
mother. 

In  1837  Warren  Preston  left  Norridgewock  for 
Bangor,  where  he  had  been  appointed  Judge  of 
Probate  Court ;  and  two  years  later  his  brother-in- 
law,  Rev.  Convers  Francis,  was  made  a  professor 
in  Harvard  Divinity  School,  while  Mrs.  L.  Maria 
Child  was  fast  acquiring  celebrity.  Frequent  visits 

44 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

took  place  between  the  families  in  Bangor  and 
Cambridge,  and  in  June,  1842,  Mary  Elizabeth 
Preston  was  invited  by  Mrs.  Francis  to  attend  Har 
vard  class-day  and  the  commencement  exercises. 
She  went,  of  course,  and  in  the  evening  after  com 
mencement  there  was  a  sort  of  informal  meeting 
of  the  Transcendental  Club  at  Dr.  Francis'  house. 
Theodore  Parker,  Margaret  Fuller,  and  a  number 
of  clergymen  were  present,  including  Mr.  Stetson. 
Margaret's  talk  was  brilliant,  but  she  took  little 
notice  of  Miss  Preston.  Mr.  Stetson  and  his  wife, 
however,  were  greatly  pleased  with  her  and  invited 
her  to  an  entertainment  the  following  Saturday, 
with  a  request  that  she  should  remain  over  the 
Sabbath  with  them. 

Mr.  Stearns  must  have  been  absent  from  this 
entertainment,  for  on  Sunday  forenoon,  as  they 
were  going  to  church,  Mr.  Stetson  pointed  out  the 
Stearns  brothers  to  Miss  Preston  with  the  remark, 
''l  Those  are  the  finest  young  men  in  my  parish ; 
and  they  are  the  pillars  of  my  church."  After  the 
service  was  over  she  was  introduced  to  them  and 
immediately  made  her  choice  between  the  two; 
but  later  in  life  what  she  seemed  to  remember 
chiefly  was  that  they  were  elegantly  dressed.  She 
did  not  see  much  of  them  on  this  occasion,  how 
ever,  and  returned  to  her  native  state  as  heart-free 
as  she  left  it. 

In  November  Miss  Preston  came  again  to  visit 
her  aunt  and  uncle.  It  was  Indian-summer 
weather,  and  Dr.  Francis  took  advantage  of  it  to 
drive  over  to  Brook  Farm,  where  Mr.  George  P. 
Bradford,  who  had  taught  Miss  Preston  Latin 

45 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

in  Bangor,  had  lately  enlisted  in  what  was  called 
in  the  Dial  the  "  service  of  higher  civilization." 
Mr.  Bradford  looked  very  thin  and  sunburnt,  but 
was  delighted  to  see  Miss  Preston,  to  whom  he 
confided  that  milking  the  cows  in  November  was 
very  chilly  business.  Dr.  Francis  found  his  friend 
George  Ripley  throwing  turnips  into  a  cart,  which 
he  called  "  the  philosophy  of  Descartes."  Miss 
Preston  was  amused  to  see  people  making  life 
unnecessarily  hard  for  themselves,  and  on  the 
homeward  drive  Dr.  Francis  remarked  that  he 
feared  his  friend  Ripley  had  undertaken  a  madcap 
enterprise. 

Miss  Mary  Preston's  next  visit  was  to  Mrs. 
Stetson,  and  there,  to  her  surprise,  she  saw  George 
L.  Stearns  lying  on  the  parlor  sofa  with  a  pair  of 
crutches  beside  it.  He  was  in  the  last  stages  of 
recovery  from  a  broken  leg,  and  had  come  over  to 
Mr.  Stetson's  for  a  little  consultation  on  church 
affairs.  About  two  months  previously  he  was  rid 
ing  out  of  Boston,  when  Fanny  Elssler  suddenly 
stumbled  and  fell  upon  him,  close  by  the  ruins  of 
the  old  Charlestown  nunnery.  He  was  carried  to 
his  mother's  in  an  ambulance,  counting  the  stones 
they  went  over  by  the  way.  Two  doctors  were 
called,  and  both  declared  that  the  limb  must  be 
amputated.  Never  did  Mr.  Stearns  require  greater 
resolution.  He  was  little  acquainted  with  doctors, 
but  he  remembered  hearing  that  Amasa  Walker, 
of  Boston,  was  a  surgeon  who  always  tried  to  save 
broken  limbs.  "  Send  for  Dr.  Walker,"  he  cried, 
"  and  I  will  submit  to  his  decision."  Fortunately, 
too,  he  had  a  mother  with  a  mind  of  her  own.  Dr. 

46 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Walker  was  summoned,  and  decided  that  the  leg 
could  be  saved,  and  it  was  saved. 

This  was  a  thrilling  adventure  to  a  young  lady 
of  Miss  Preston's  temperament.  She  took  a  chair 
beside  his  couch  and  they  were  soon  left  alone. 
She  did  not  talk  to  him  of  scarlet-tanagers,  but 
about  the  woods  of  Maine,  and  its  great  rivers 
with  their  rafts  of  lumber,  and  the  silver-scaled 
salmon  leaping  over  the  falls  at  Scowhegan. 

Mr.  Stearns  asked  her  about  Dr.  Hedge  and  the 
church  at  Bangor;  he  found  that  she  agreed  with 
him  remarkably  in  regard  to  those  subjects  which 
were  nearest  his  heart.  She  felt  a  happiness  which 
she  had  never  known  before;  it  was  the  first  time 
she  had  been  in  love.  They  were  not  engaged, 
however,  until  the  following  May,  when  Mr. 
Stearns  went  on  a  business  expedition  to  New 
Brunswick,  and  during  a  wretched  night  in  a 
tavern  at  Fredericton,  concluded  to  offer  himself 
to  Miss  Mary  Preston,  which  accordingly  he  did 
on  the  way  back  to  Boston. 

When  the  engagement  was  announced  Dr. 
Hedge  said :  "  We  all  congratulate  you,  Mary,  but 
we  are  going  to  lose  you  much  too  soon,"  and 
Rev.  Mr.  Stetson  wrote  her  the  following  letter, 
dated  May,  1843  : 

"  I  hasten  to  congratulate  you  most  heartily  and 
sincerely  on  the  first  news  I  heard  on  my  return 
from  a  visit  to  New  York.  You  will  know  of 
course  that  I  can  mean  nothing  else  than  your 
engagement  to  my  excellent  friend  Mr.  Stearns. 
How  excellent  he  is,  how  full  of  all  Christian  graces 
and  virtues,  I  am  sure  I  need  not  tell  you.  The 

47 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

fact  of  your  present  relation  to  him  is  the  most 
satisfactory  proof  of  your  insight  into  his  character. 
But  you  have  not  yet  had  time  to  learn  the  whole 
of  his  worth ;  it  will  more  and  more  reveal  itself  to 
you,  I  trust,  in  many  years  to  come.  Mr.  Stearns 
is  well  adapted  to  make  you  a  happy  wife,  both  in 
what  he  differs  from  you,  and  in  what  he  resembles 
you.  In  all  that  is  best  and  highest  in  both,  you  will 
have  profound  sympathy  with  each  other;  and  in 
the  strong  sense  and  practical  character  of  one  who 
is  a  business  man,  without  being  a  worldly  man, 
you  will  have  perhaps  the  best  complement  to  the 
enthusiasm  of  your  own  being.  On  your  account 
I  have  great  satisfaction  in  the  prospect  of  your 
union  with  a  man  so  truly  and  deeply  religious,  and 
I  cannot  tell  you  how  glad  I  am  that  the  event,  so 
full  of  blessed  promise  to  you  and  to  him,  will  also 
bring  you  here  to  me." 

On  May  I7th  Mr.  Stearns  wrote  to  his  be 
trothed  : 

"  The  past  week  has  been  an  exhausting  one ;  my  business 
did  not  suit  me,  and  I  became  anxious,  nervous — yes,  these 
things  take  too  deep  hold,  and  I  must  hide  the  spirit  of 
worldliness,  that  true  life  may  come.  I  have  resolved  on 
it. 

"  It  is  Sunday  morning,  most  lovely  too.  All  nature 
breathes  a  holy  fragrance  as  if  new  from  the  hand  of  God ; 
yes,  it  is  always  new,  life  evolved  from  death,  the  blessed 
assurance  of  our  future  existence,  bright  and  beautiful.  I 
have  enjoyed  every  moment;  it  speaks  peace  to  my  soul. 
I  rose  early  and  took  up  Browning's  first  '  Sunday  Morn 
ing — Spring.'  '  How  fully  does  it  speak  to  me ! '  *  I  ask 
not,  shield  me,  Father,  from  distress.'  That  my  soul 

48 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

needs.    I  have  taken  a  short  ride  on  '  Fanny/  the  first  since 
my  accident,  and  returned  renewed  in  spirit. 
"  Yours   affectionately, 

"  GEORGE  L.  STEARNS/' 

"  The  spirit  of  worldliness  "  to  which  he  refers 
is  evidently  an  anticipation  of  the  coming  struggle 
with  his  fashionable  friends  on  the  slavery  ques 
tion.  What  was  then  called  Beacon  Street  society 
was  composed  of  two  distinct  elements :  the  old 
revolutionary  Tories  still  continued  to  be  what 
they  were  in  1776;  but  the  Adams,  Quincy,  Law 
rence,  and  some  other  families  were  much  more 
patriotic  and  finally  came  over  to  the  antislavery 
side.  John  Quincy  Adams  was  the  antislavery 
hero  of  his  time.  The  Tory  element,  however, 
strongly  preponderated;  and  Mr.  Stearns  foresaw 
the  treatment  he  might  expect  to  receive  at  its 
hands. 

The  following  letter  was  written  to  Miss  Pres 
ton  shortly  before  their  marriage: 

"MEDFORD,  August  24th,   1843. 

"  Tuesday  evening  was  passed  agreeably  in  Mr.  Stetson's 
study.  I  purposely  spoke  very  freely  of  myself,  that  he 
might  do  the  same,  and  was  not  disappointed.  He  is  still 
ill  at  ease  in  regard  to  his  position  among  us,  and  I  almost 
fear  a  good  offer  might  tempt  him  to  leave  us;  still,  when 
we  parted  I  felt  more  sure  of  him  than  ever,  and  think  that 
eventually  all  will  come  out  right.  He  is  evidently  much 
annoyed  by  what  has  been  said,  and  does  not  yet  see  that 
this  is  the  result  of  advanced  ideas.  When  I  endeavored  to 
show  him  that  no  reform  could  be  made  with  the  unani 
mous  consent  of  the  community,  and  that  any  one  who 
stepped  forward  must  be  prepared  to  meet  the  fate  of  a 
reformer, — pointing  at  the  same  time  to  much  already  ac 
complished  among  us  as  a  parish  and  a  town,  for  he  has 
4  49 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

done  quite  as  much  for  education,  in  the  improvement  of 
our  schools,  as  he  has  in  elevating  the  standard  of  religious 
instruction  in  our  society — he  still  looked  back,  and  would 
not  be  satisfied  unless  all  could  be  satisfied  with  Christ; 
and  thinks  if  a  new  field  was  open  to  him  he  would  find 
a  way  to  every  heart. 

"  Affectionately  yours, 

"  GEORGE." 

It  will  be  perceived  that  Mr.  Stearns  was  already 
in  advance  of  his  time,  and,  like  all  brave,  aspiring 
souls,  wished  to  lift  the  laggard  world  up  to  his 
own  level.  He  already  foresaw  a  storm  brewing 
in  the  First  Parish  at  Medford,  although  it  did 
not  break  for  some  years  to  come. 

Mary  Elizabeth  Preston  was  married  to  George 
L.  Stearns  on  October  12,  1843,  Rev.  Frederick 
H.  Hedge  officiating.  Mr.  Stearns  went  with  his 
bride  immediately  to  Medford,  which  was  enough 
of  a  journey  in  those  days;  and  the  manner  in 
which  he  reached  his  home  was  characteristic  of 
his  calculating  methods. 

At  that  time  the  only  railway  station  in  Medford 
was  at  the  extreme  west  end  of  the  town,  and  the 
trip  in  the  Boston  stage  was  anything  but  an  enliv 
ening  one.  Mr.  Stearns,  however,  had  a  friendly 
neighbor  who  drove  every  day  to  West  Medford, 
left  his  carriage  under  a  shed,  and  then  went  to 
Boston  by  the  Lowell  railroad.  Mr.  Stearns  took 
the  train  to  West  Medford,  borrowed  his  friend's 
vehicle,  drove  with  his  wife  to  his  mother's  house ; 
then  returned  the  equipage  and  walked  back  to 
Medford.  It  is  likely  enough  that  he  planned 
this  before  he  went  to  Bangor. 

50 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

The  charm  of  the  honeymoon  depends  on  that 
mutual  reserve  which  the  two  sexes  feel  toward 
one  another.  When  this  wears  off  the  apple  of 
discord  enters  the  domestic  circle  and  does  not 
disappear  until  husband  and  wife  thoroughly  under 
stand  each  other ;  and  woe  to  the  household  where 
they  fail  to  do  this. 

One  of  the  common  trials  of  a  young  wife  who 
marries  a  man  of  business  lies  in  his  long  absences 
from  home.  Judge  Preston  was  in  the  habit  of 
running  into  his  house  four  or  five  times  a  day, 
and  his  daughters  supposed  that  all  husbands  did 
the  same.  Mr.  Stearns  left  his  wife  at  eight 
o'clock  in  the  morning  and  did  not  return  till 
nearly  six;  so  that  she  had  many  long,  weary 
hours,  far  away  from  her  relatives  and  her  friends. 
It  would  seem  that  she  never  became  reconciled 
to  this,  for  thirty  years  later  she  said :  "  I  did  not 
want  him  to  leave  me  immediately  after  breakfast. 
I  wanted  him  to  stay  with  me,  to  read  and  talk." 
She  seemed  to  think  that  he  might  have  done  this 
if  he  had  so  chosen. 

In  the  spring  of  1845  Mr.  Stearns  purchased 
the  estate  on  the  south  side  of  the  town  where  he 
used  to  play  when  he  was  a  boy.  He  felt  the  need, 
perhaps,  of  separating  himself  in  a  manner  from 
the  people  with  whom  he  had  been  brought  up  for 
the  broader  and  freer  development  of  his  own 
nature.  He  also  wished  to  locate  himself  so  that 
he  might  look  after  his  mother's  interest  without 
having  his  wife  see  too  much  of  her.  Mr.  Stetson 
congratulated  him  on  his  purchase,  saying, 
"  George,  you  will  live  ten  years  longer  for  it,  and 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

the  place  will  quadruple  in  value."  This  last  pre 
diction  proved  correct,  but  Mr.  Stearns  failed  to 
dispose  of  it  at  the  right  time;  and  finally  it  be 
came  so  expensive  that  it  may  almost  be  said  to 
have  been  the  ruin  of  his  family. 

The  location  was  a  healthy  one  certainly,  with  a 
substructure  of  red  granite  crumbling  into  gravel, 
and  for  seventy  years  no  person  had  died  in  that 
house;  but  one  reason  for  that  was  that  until  Mr. 
Stearns  owned  it  nobody  could  live  there  for  any 
length  of  time.  The  family  who  occupied  it  be 
fore  him  had  a  curious  experience.  They  hired 
two  servant  girls,  and  brought  them  out  from  Bos 
ton,  but  the  next  morning  there  was  an  ominous 
stillness  about  the  place.  When  the  family 
assembled  for  breakfast,  there  was  no  breakfast 
to  be  had — and  no  fire  in  the  kitchen.  The  girls 
did  not  like  the  location,  and  had  taken  French 
leave.  Mr.  Stearns  had  the  advantage  over  his 
predecessors  of  being  an  important  man  in  Med- 
ford,  and  could  thus  attract  society  to  his  little 
castle,  which  his  predecessors  could  not. 

Mr.  Stearns  enjoyed  farming,  but  did  not  find 
much  time  for  it.  Old  Mr.  Pullen  said  of  him: 
"  I  never  knew  a  man  who  liked  so  well  to  see  good 
work  as  he  does."  He  was  fond  of  holding  the 
plough,  and  after  he  wore  a  long  beard  this  was 
quite  a  picturesque  sight.  In  order  to  reclaim  a 
barren  field  he  sowed  it  with  buckwheat,  and  then 
after  it  was  grown  ploughed  it  into  the  ground, 
with  the  bees  and  hornets  buzzing  around  him. 
He  made  a  mistake,  however,  in  setting  out  pear- 
trees  too  far  from  his  house,  for  the  Medford  boys 
stole  the  fruit  every  year  before  it  was  ripe. 

52 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

George  L.  Stearns1  way  to  fortune  came  through 
an  act  of  exceptional  kindness — a  reward  of  virtue 
such  as  we  hear  of  in  Sunday-schools,  but  rarely 
meet  in  actual  life. 

A  certain  Mr.  Loring,  who  afterwards  disap 
peared  in  the  wild  West,  pirated  a  patent  for  mak 
ing  lead  pipe  which  was  owned  by  the  Tatham 
Bros.,  in  New  York.  He  set  up  a  mill  for  the 
purpose  in  Charlestown,  and  sold  his  pipe  in  Bos 
ton,  supposing  apparently  that  no  one  would  in 
quire  where  it  came  from;  but  his  duplicity  was 
quickly  discovered,  and,  being  threatened  with  a 
criminal  prosecution  he  went  in  his  distress  to  Mr. 
Stearns  as  the  kindest  man  he  knew  of. 

Albert  Fearing  &  Co.  made  use  of  a  great  deal 
of  lead,  and  Mr.  Stearns  proposed  to  the  firm  that 
they  should  make  an  attempt  to  purchase  the  patent 
for  New  England,  and,  while  they  helped  Loring 
out  of  his  difficulty,  do  a  good  turn  for  themselves. 
He  had  examined  Loring's  pipe  and  found  that  it 
could  bes  bent  to  a  greater  angle  than  that  of  the 
Boston  Lead  Co.  He  believed  that  its  manufac 
ture  would  prove  profitable.  The  firm  decided  that 
Mr.  Stearns  should  go  to  New  York  and  open 
negotiations. 

Mr.  Stearns  never  tried  to  overreach  anybody. 
The  common  mercantile  trick  of  depreciating  what 
a  man  wants  to  purchase,  he  considered  the  depth 
of  meanness.  He  went  to  Mr.  Benjamin  Tatham 
and  told  him  exactly  what  he  wished  to  accom 
plish.  Mr.  Tatham  was  a  very  shrewd  Quaker, 
and  not  inaccessible  to  kindness.  He  was  delighted 
with  Mr.  Stearns'  frankness,  invited  him  to  stay 
53 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OP 

at  his  own  house,  and  made  a  fair  bargain  with 
him.  Loring's  reputation  was  saved  for  the  pres 
ent,  and  it  was  hoped  that  he  would  do  better  in 
future. 

Mr.  Stearns  and  Governor  Andrew  have  both 
been  criticised  for  allowing  themselves  to  be  de 
ceived  by  unprincipled  men.  This  is  not  fair  to 
either  of  them.  They  were  good  judges  of  char 
acter,  but  they  both  held  the  opinion  that  sinners 
could  be  turned  from  evil  ways  by  kindness  and 
moral  exhortation.  This  may  be  possible,  some 
times,  but  in  every  case  where  Mr.  Stearns 
attempted  it,  he  only  received  ingratitude,  and  often 
sustained  a  pecuniary  loss. 

In  the  present  instance  he  believed  Loring  had 
been  thoroughly  scared,  and  that  of  itself  ought  to 
be  sufficient  to  teach  him  better  ways.  He  advised 
making  Loring  their  agent  for  the  new  manufac 
ture,  especially  as  he  knew  more  about  it  than  any 
one  in  the  firm.  This  was  accordingly  done;  but 
either  Loring  returned  to  his  old  practices  or  was 
found  unsatisfactory  in  some  other  way,  and  in 
less  than  a  year  he  was  dispensed  with.  Then 
Albert  Fearing  said :  "  I  think,  Stearns,  you  will 
have  to  take  this  new  business;  if  you  cannot 
make  a  success  of  it  nobody  can." 

So  Mr.  Stearns  put  his  shoulder  to  the  wheel, 
and  at  first  he  found  it  pretty  hard  to  move. 
There  was  a  good  demand  for  the  article,  but  much 
of  the  pipe  was  spoiled  in  the  making,  and  this 
ate  up  the  profits.  He  found  his  greatest  difficulty 
in  organizing  his  workmen.  One  foreman  after 
another  had  to  be  discharged. 

54 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

It  was  like  training  men  to  watchmaking.  The 
molten  lead  had  to  remain  in  the  press  an  exact 
number  of  seconds,  and  was  then  squeezed  out  at 
different  rates,  according  to  the  sizes  of  the  pipes. 
Night  after  night  Mr.  Stearns  drove  home  from 
Charlestown  between  twelve  and  one  o'clock,  to 
find  his  wife,  who  had  now  two  babies  to  care  for, 
weeping  at  his  absence.  She  told  him  she  had 
rather  live  in  a  cottage  all  her  days  than  to  have 
him  continue  in  this  mode  of  life.  He  could  not 
say  definitely  when  the  trouble  would  come  to  an 
end.  and  she  feared  that  there  would  never  be  an 
end  to  it. 

At  length,  after  he  was  well-nigh  discouraged, 
and  his  bank-account  had  run  very  low,  affairs 
began  to  take  a  favorable  turn.  He  came  across 
an  Englishman  named  York,  who  made  an  admir 
able  foreman  and  served  him  in  that  capacity  for 
nearly  twenty  years.  It  was  not  long  before  Mr. 
Stearns  controlled  half  of  the  lead  trade  in  eastern 
New  England.  He  liked  the  independence  of 
directing  business  affairs  without  being  obliged  to 
consult  with  others,  so  he  dissolved  partnership 
with  Fearing  &  Co.,  taking  the  lead  business  as 
his  share  of  the  capital;  and,  whether  by  calcula 
tion  or  not,  this  proved  in  the  end  greatly  to  his 
advantage. 

Mr.  Stearns  had  a  decided  talent  for  mechanics, 
and  he  arranged  the  machinery  of  his  mill  in  the 
most  compact  and  economical  manner.  The  build 
ing  was  only  one  hundred  feet  in  length,  and  a 
story  and  a  half  in  height;  whereas  the  Boston 
Lead  Co.  had  a  four-story  building  of  large  dimen- 

55 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

sions,  although  this  was  partly  for  the  manufacture 
of  white-lead  paint.  Mr.  Stearns'  Boston  office 
was  first  at  23  Water  Street,  but  after  1856  at 
129  Milk  Street,  a  building  that  was  destroyed 
in  the  great  fire  of  1872. 

The  lead-pipe  manufacture  is  not  a  fine-sounding 
profession,  and  Mrs.  Stearns  thought  so;  but  we 
should  remember  Shakespeare's  three  caskets  in 
the  "  Merchant  of  Venice."  In  the  gold  and  silver 
caskets  was  found  nothing  but  chagrin,  and  the 
prize  was  discovered  in  the  "  dull,  cold  lead." 
This  was  emblematic  of  Mr.  Stearns'  life.  His 
Kansas  work,  his  support  of  John  Brown,  and  his 
organization  of  negro  regiments  were  all  of  the 
same  sort.  He  lived,  as  it  were,  under  a  leaden 
sky,  which  only  at  the  close  of  his  life  became 
illumined  gloriously  by  the  setting  sun. 

Bankers  are  supposed  to  be  at  the  top  of  the 
mercantile  world,  but  the  life  of  a  banker,  even 
when  he  is  above  the  chance  of  misfortune,  is  not 
wholly  an  enviable  one.  He  is  never  free  from  a 
certain  kind  of  anxiety,  and  even  when  his  instincts 
are  generous  his  occupation  tends  to  make  him 
hard-hearted.  "  Can't  you  renew  my  note  ? " 
"  No,  I  must  have  the  money,"  is  a  dialogue  of 
daily  occurrence  with  him.  The  agent  for  a 
foreign  banking  house  enjoys  certain  social  advan 
tages,  but  he  is  practically  owned  in  another  coun 
try.  He  can  have  no  freedom  of  action  and  little 
freedom  of  opinion :  he  must  even  be  careful  how 
his  name  appears  on  subscription  lists.  The  reason 
why  so  many  manufacturers  find  their  way  into 
political  life,  is  not  so  much  because  they  have 

56 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

operatives  to  vote  for  them,  as  that  their  occupa 
tion  gives  them  exceptional  independence  and  en 
courages  a  vigorous,  manly  life. 

Mr.  Stearns  was  remarkably  well  fitted  for  this 
description  of  business.  He  was  rather  a  nervous 
man,  but  had  a  determined  look.  His  calculations 
were  rapid  and  his  answers  decisive.  Moreover, 
most  of  the  plumbers  were  either  English  or 
Scotch,  and  had  not  become  corrupted  by  the  Jef- 
fersonian  fiction  of  an  equality,  which  practically 
exists  only  on  the  frontiers  of  civilization.  They 
expected  a  merchant  to  be  a  gentleman,  and  liked 
Mr.  Stearns  the  better  for  his  dignified  manners. 
His  rival,  Mr.  Chadwick,  used  to  joke  with  his 
customers  and  try  to  make  himself  popular  with 
them,  but  this  generally  had  the  opposite  effect 
from  what  he  intended.  They  much  preferred 
Mr.  Stearns'  plain, — "  Good-morning,  Mr.  Lumb;" 
which  he  spoke  as  if  he  took  a  real  interest  in  the 
man.  With  the  New  York  brokers  through  whom 
he  purchased  his  raw  material  he  was  always  on 
very  friendly  terms. 

The  law  of  property  is,  first  possession;  and 
secondly  possession  against  the  world  at  large. 
No  individual  is  permitted  to  enjoy  unusual  pros 
perity  if  any  means  can  be  found  to  take  it  away 
from  him.  Mr.  Stearns'  success  attracted  atten 
tion,  and  in  1847  two  New  York  firms  established 
agencies  in  Boston,  and,  while  they  pretended  to 
maintain  the  regular  schedule  of  prices,  they  began 
secretly  to  undersell  Mr.  Steams.  It  was  not  long 
before  some  of  his  faithful  plumbers  informed  him 
of  this.  "  Mr.  Perkins,"  he  said  to  his  chief 

57 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OP 

clerk,  "  put  down  the  price  of  pipe  to  within  half 
a  cent  of  pig  lead."  Five  thousand  dollars  went, 
and  he  had  nearly  lost  ten  thousand  when  the  New 
York  agents  came  to  him  on  their  knees.  "  I  will 
raise  my  prices  to  normal  figures,"  Mr.  Stearns 
informed  them,  "  but  the  moment  I  hear  of  your 
underselling  me,  down  they  will  go  again."  He 
looked  very  determined,  and  as  their  only  chance  of 
success  lay  in  underselling  him  they  soon  afterward 
returned  to  their  own  city. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Mr.  Stearns  became 
acquainted  with  Charles  Sumner,  and  a  friendship 
ensued  between  them,  which  can  hardly  be  said  to 
have  terminated  with  their  death,  since  it  has  be 
come  a  part  of  the  history  of  their  country.  Sum 
ner  was  considered  the  whitest  lawyer  in  Boston, 
a  man  for  whom  money  had  no  value.  On  what 
account  Mr.  Stearns  consulted  him  is  uncertain, 
but  after  listening  to  his  case  Sumner's  first  words 
were,  "  I  advise  all  my  clients  not  to  go  to  law ;  " 
a  course  which  Mr.  Stearns  followed  the  rest  of  his 
life,  for  though  he  sometimes  threatened  a  suit  he 
never  went  into  court. 

He  could  not  have  shown  a  clearer  sense  of  char 
acter  than  he  did  in  the  choice  of  his  legal  advisers. 
After  Sumner  went  into  the  United  States  Senate, 
Mr.  Stearns  consulted  John  A.  Andrew ;  and  after 
Andrew  became  governor,  he  consulted  William 
Whiting.  When  Whiting  was  appointed  solicitor 
of  the  War  Department,  Mr.  Stearns  went  to 
William  G.  Russell,  who  was  afterwards  offered 
the  position  of  Chief  Justice  of  Massachusetts,  and 
declined  it. 

58 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

We  find  that  Rufus  Choate  spent  the  night  at 
Mr.  Stearns'  house  in  October,  1846,  after  deliver 
ing  a  political  address  in  Medford;  so  that  Mr. 
Stearns  must  have  been  still  considered  a  Whig 
at  that  time.  It  is  likely  that  he  was  requested 
to  invite  Mr.  Choate.  Mrs.  Stearns,  who  was 
fond  of  talking  of  distinguished  people  and  in  quite 
an  interesting  way,  never  but  once  referred  to 
Choate  in  my  hearing,  and  then  without  comment 
of  any  kind. 

In  1848,  however,  George  L.  Stearns  joined  the 
Conscience  Whigs,  and  attended  the  Worcester 
Convention,  where  Henry  Wilson  made  the  mem 
orable  speech  which  first  disclosed  his  ability  as  a 
political  leader.  Mr.  Stearns  could  not  do  much 
speech-making,  but  he  gave  liberally  to  the  cam 
paign  fund,  and  probably  helped  to  collect  funds 
for  the  campaign.  The  Conscience  Whigs  did  not 
differ  essentially  from  the  Free-soilers,  but  the 
name  served  as  a  convenient  stepping-stone  for 
prominent  persons  in  the  Whig  party  who  were 
strongly  attached  to  it,  and  did  not  like  to  separate 
themselves  from  it  all  at  once. 

The  slow  and  steady  growth  of  the  Republican 
party  in  its  different  phases  of  Liberty  and  Free- 
soil  parties,  from  1840  to  1856,  indicated  a  very 
powerful  political  momentum,  and  it  was  only  such 
that  could  overthrow  so  strongly  grounded  and 
prosperous  an  institution  as  African  slavery  in 
America.  Political  parties  commonly  originate  in 
the  union  of  self-interest  with  some  political  theory, 
and  this  was  true  of  the  Republican  party;  but  the 
Liberty  party  was  a  rare  instance  of  a  political 

59 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

movement  founded  wholly  on  principle, — the  prin 
ciple  that  every  man  has  a  right  to  the  fruit  of  his 
labor;  and  this  served  to  give  it  an  energizing 
element  and  a  moral  impetus  not  unlike  that  of  the 
Crusades. 

The  affairs  of  his  church  may  have  interested 
Mr.  Stearns  more  deeply  at  this  time  than  the 
political  field.  Rev.  Mr.  Stetson  had  lately  added 
a  new  article  of  reform  to  his  previous  catalogue, 
and  one  that  was  likely  to  cause  him  serious  trouble. 
Medford,  which  had  long  been  famous  for  ship 
building,  was  now  becoming  still  more  distin 
guished  for  its  rum.  Nearly  all  the  rum  sold  in 
the  United  States  was  supposed  to  come  from 
Medford,  whether  it  had  been  manufactured  there 
or  not.  There  were  three  distilleries  in  the  town 
in  full  blast;  and  the  effect  was  as  bad  on  those 
who  manufactured  as  on  those  who  drank  it. 

The  ship-building  brought  a  class  of  honest,  in 
dustrious,  and  intelligent  artisans  to  the  town,  who 
were  among  the  most  devoutly  religious  citizens 
of  the  place ;  but  even  they  were  becoming  vitiated 
more  or  less  by  the  prevailing  laxity  of  morals. 
It  was  much  the  same  in  Boston  and  vicinity.  The 
old  Puritan  code  was  being  superseded  by  a  new 
order  of  things.  Startling  instances  of  intemper 
ance  in  high  life  had  lately  been  revealed,  and  Rev. 
John  Pierpont,  the  "  old  war  eagle,"  as  Theodore 
Parker  called  him,  had  sounded  the  note  of  alarm 
from  the  pulpit  of  Hollis  Street  Church, — for 
which  he  was  soon  afterwards  dismissed  through 
the  influence  of  Williams  Bros.,  wine  merchants. 

Rev.  Mr.  Stetson  was  not  a  man  to  be  frightened 
60 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

by  this  example,  or  intimidated  by  wealthy  parish 
ioners  ;  but,  like  many  reformers,  he  overestimated 
his  own  strength.  The  adaptation  of  ends  to  means 
is  as  necessary  as  the  adaptation  of  means  to  ends ; 
and  the  practical  reformer  is  obliged  to  consider 
this  as  much  as  the  practical  statesman.  Yet  the 
greatest  enterprises  require  a  certain  recklessness 
of  self  (like  that  of  a  general  on  the  battle-field), 
which  makes  the  line  between  success  and  failure 
a  very  narrow  one ;  and  the  sympathy  of  mankind 
for  a  heroic  defeat  often  becomes  the  parent  of  a 
glorious  victory. 

Mr.  Stetson  had  carried  his  congregation  a  long 
way  from  the  place  where  Dr.  David  Osgood  had 
left  it,  and  he  still  hoped  for  further  successes.  He 
attacked  the  new  evil  with  unusual  energy,  for 
nothing  is  easier  than  to  find  arguments  against 
the  use  of  alcoholic  drinks.  Mr.  Stearns  was 
never  a  believer  in  total  abstinence,  and  enjoyed 
his  bottle  of  Haut  Sauterne,  but  he  was  willing  to 
give  this  up  for  the  good  of  the  cause,  and  he  sup 
ported  Mr.  Stetson  with  all  his  might, — and  he 
supported  him  alone  among  the  leading  members 
of  the  parish.  Henry  Stearns,  who  had  lately  re 
turned  from  Europe  in  rather  a  demoralized  con 
dition,  took  the  opposite  side  from  his  brother; 
and  Dr.  Bemis  was  secretly  at  work  undermining 
his  influence.  Mr.  Stetson's  most  determined 
opponent,  however,  was  a  farmer  named  Hall,  who 
owned  a  small  cider-mill  from  which  he  derived  an 
income  of  perhaps  a  hundred  dollars  a  year. 

Madam  Stearns  was  now  old  and  feeble,  but  her 
love  of  virtue  was  undiminished.  She  raised  her 

61 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

voice  in  Mr.  Stetson's  behalf,  and  exerted  herself 
among  the  ladies  of  the  parish  in  support  of  her 
son  George,  whom  she  perhaps  recognized  at  last 
for  his  true  value.  With  their  assistance  he  suc 
ceeded  in  preventing  the  dismissal  of  Mr.  Stetson; 
but  a  number  of  the  wealthiest  families  left  the 
church  and  founded  the  Medford  Episcopal 
Society. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Miss  Mary  Osgood  said 
to  Mrs.  Stearns :  "  The  silks  and  velvets  have  gone, 
Mrs.  Mary,  and  now  you  must  don  your  finest 
apparel  for  the  benefit  of  the  faithful  and  my 
father's  church."  Mr.  Stearns,  in  order  to  encour 
age  the  society,  purchased  all  the  pews  of  the 
seceding  members. 

It  was  all  in  vain.  Mr.  Stetson's  buoyant  nature 
had  carried  him  through  the  struggle,  but  when  it 
was  over  his  health  gave  way.  These  events  took 
place  during  the  autumn  of  1847,  and  the  follow 
ing  winter,  in  May,  1848,  Mr.  Stetson  had  a  slight 
apoplectic  stroke,  and  was  obliged  to  take  a  long 
vacation.  In  September  he  returned  from  the 
mountains  to  external  appearance  a  well  man,  but 
as  soon  as  he  attempted  to  preach  the  internal 
weakness  became  painfully  apparent.  After  strug 
gling  against  fate  for  two  months  more,  he  offered 
his  resignation  and  retired  forever  from  active 
affairs.  He  lived  for  more  than  twenty  years  on 
a  Lexington  farm,  sometimes  filling  a  local  pulpit, 
but  feeling  only  too  keenly  that  his  day  of  useful 
ness  was  over.  Yet  he  was  a  true  hero,  in  his  way, 
and  lived  to  witness  the  triumph  of  the  antislavery 
cause,  and  the  success  of  his  favorite  disciple.  He 

62 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

had  been  the  soul  of  Medford  society,  and  after 
his  departure  its  tone  steadily  declined. 

Among  those  who  rilled  Mr.  Stetson's  pulpit 
after  his  first  illness  was  a  young  graduate  from 
Harvard  Divinity  School  named  Samuel  Johnson, 
who  afterwards  became  celebrated  for  his  great 
work  on  oriental  religions.  He  was  a  man  of 
singularly  pure  and  elevated  character,  and  had 
a  penetrating  baritone  voice,  which  once  heard  was 
not  to  be  forgotten.  His  friends  considered  him 
one  of  the  most  inspiring  preachers  of  his  time, 
and  the  Misses  Osgood  were  so  much  impressed 
by  the  spirituality  of  his  first  address  that  they 
denominated  him  "  the  seraph,"  and  always  spoke 
of  him  by  that  name  to  Mrs.  Stearns,  and  other 
intimate  friends.  He  spent  a  night  at  Mr.  Stearns' 
house,  in  consequence  of  which  Mr.  Stearns  pro 
posed  him  to  the  parish  in  November,  1848,  as 
Mr.  Stetson's  successor.  The  meeting  called  to 
consider  the  subject  was  rather  a  stormy  one,  and 
the  vote  resulted  in  a  small  majority  in  Mr. 
Stearns*  favor;  a  fact  which  was  communicated 
to  Mr.  Johnson  in  the  following  letter : 

(Fac-simile  of  original} 

"BOSTON,  Nov.  28th,  1848. 
"  DEAR  FRIEND  : 

"  We  held  a  parish  meeting  last  evening,  and  expected  to 
give  you  a  call  by  an  almost  unanimous  vote;  so  confi 
dent  we  were,  that  the  opposition  would  be  small,  that  no 
endeavor  was  made  by  debate  to  increase  our  numbers,  or 
in  any  way  to  draw  the  doubtful  votes  to  our  side.  I 
almost  regret  we  were  so  forbearing,  but  it  is  past,  and  we 
must  for  the  present  submit. 

63 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

"  The  vote  was  24  against  and  30  in  favor  of  the  call, 
too  small  a  majority  for  working  purposes. 

"  We  shall  now  remain  quiet,  and  let  the  Conserva 
tives  have  their  way.  If  a  clergyman  worth  having  can 
be  found  to  fill  a  gagged  pulpit,  I  will  relinquish  my  rights, 
but  not  hear  him.  The  Word  of  God  shall  not  come 
to  me  through  a  keyhole. 

"  What  shall  we  do  ?  Will  you  be  to  us  the  man  of  God 
and  give  comfort  to  a  small  but  chosen  flock,  or  will  you  wait 
until  the  tide  turns  again  in  our  favor?  Do  call  and  see 
me  when  you  come  to  Boston  and  give  me  some  comfort. 

"  I  know  you  will  not  feel  this  as  I  do ;  the  world  is 
before  you,  and  if  not  at  Medford  some  other  place  will 
soon  be  open,  but  to  us  it  is  important,  as  a  decision  be 
tween  life  and  death. 

"  Your  truly  affectionate  friend, 

"GEO.  L.  STEARNS/' 

The  minority  ruled  in  this  instance,  as  some 
times  happens  in  politics,  and  finally  brought  for 
ward  the  name  of  John  Pierpont  as  a  compromise. 
He  was  accordingly  elected,  and  accepted  the  call; 
but  the  "  war  eagle "  soon  discovered  that  the 
Medford  parish  was  not  an  atmosphere  to  soar 
in.  He  found  that  in  order  to  prevent  the  society 
from  hopeless  disintegration  it  would  be  necessary 
for  him  to  make  continual  compromises.  He 
preached  a  vigorous  discourse  on  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Bill,  where  public  opinion  was  strongly  on 
his  side ;  but  as  a  rule  his  sermons  were  tame  and 
monotonous.  He  did  not  like  this  himself  any 
more  than  did  Mr.  Stearns,  who  nevertheless  went 
to  hear  him  quite  regularly  until  1854,  when  the 
birth  of  another  child  and  the  subsequent  illness  of 
his  wife  forced  him  to  conclude  that  the  true  church 
was  at  his  own  hearthstone,  and  that  he  would 

64 


REV.   SAMUEL  JOHNSON 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

serve  God  best  by  serving  his  own  family.  At  this 
time  he  used  to  read  the  Bible  to  his  two  children, 
who  had  accompanied  him  to  church  the  previous 
year — much  to  their  own  disinclination.  Their 
father  noticed  this,  and  told  his  wife  that  he  feared 
the  effect  upon  them  of  too  early  an  initiation  into 
religious  subjects. 


IV 

THE  HUNGARIANS 

I  HAVE  a  shadowy  recollection,  from  the  winter 
of  1851,  of  a  rather  thick-set  man,  seated  at  my 
father's  fireside,  whom  I  was  told  to  call  "  Uncle 
Henry;  "  and  also  of  an  uneasy  impression  which 
I  felt  from  the  manner  in  which  my  father  spoke  of 
him  after  he  had  left  the  house.  Some  months 
later  he  fell  down  in  a  fit,  and  when  he  came  to 
himself  he  was  not  himself  any  more.  He  was 
taken  to  Somerville  Asylum,  where  he  continued 
to  exist  for  eight  years  longer,  tenderly  cared  for 
and  supported  by  his  brother,  who  conscientiously 
paid  his  debts  even  to  persons  that  held  no  obliga 
tions  from  him.  He  was  an  intimate  friend  of 
Abbott  Lawrence,  and  always  one  of  the  most 
popular  young  men  in  and  about  Boston. 

On  August  22,  1851,  the  town  of  Medford  was 
visited  by  a  catastrophe  in  the  shape  of  a  tornado; 
one  of  the  most  fearful  spectacles  that  can  be  wit 
nessed  by  human  eyes.  A  strong  southwest  wind 
had  been  blowing  all  day,  and  about  five  o'clock 
P.M.  this  increased  to  a  gale,  which  was  particu 
larly  violent  in  the  towns  west  of  Arlington.  At 
a  quarter  past  five  the  funnel-shaped  cloud  sud 
denly  appeared  coming  over  the  southern  slope  of 
Arlington  Heights,  where  the  track  of  its  devasta 
tion  may  still  be  observed.  A  quarter  of  a  mile 
from  Arlington  Square  it  seized  a  large  elm-tree 

66 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

and  snapped  off  its  trunk  like  a  pipe-stem.  An 
other  great  tree  near  by  was  torn  up  by  the  roots. 

It  was  at  this  moment  that  Mr.  Stearns  saw  it. 
The  wind  had  blown  off  a  large  amount  of  young 
fruit,  and  he  had  gone  out  to  survey  the  extent  of 
the  damage.  The  tornado  seemed  to  be  coming 
toward  his  house,  and  he  ran  for  his  wife.  She 
saw  it  also,  and  ran  for  her  children;  but  it  was 
all  over  in  a  minute.  The  tornado  would  seem  to 
have  moved  in  the  arc  of  a  large  circle,  constantly 
tending  northward. 

At  West  Medford  it  lifted  a  freight-car  from 
the  tracks,  and  carried  it  some  thirty  feet.  Rev. 
John  Pierpont  ran  up  to  shut  the  windows  of  his 
chambers,  just  in  time  to  see  the  roof  taken  off 
over  his  head.  It  swept  off  a  carryall  which  was 
standing  in  front  of  a  barn,  and  the  vehicle  was 
never  seen  again.  It  was  also  said  to  have  picked 
up  an  old  woman  in  the  street,  and  to  have  deposi 
ted  her  in  a  meadow.  Passing  to  the  north  of  the 
First  Parish  Church,  it  made  a  broad  track  in  the 
woods.  All  this  happened  within  a  minute  and  a 
half,  so  that  the  whirlwind  must  have  travelled 
faster  than  a  hundred  miles  an  hour.  Immediately 
afterward  the  wind  changed  to  the  northwest. 

The  tornado  had  passed  within  two  hundred 
yards  of  Madam  Stearns*  house;  and  though  her 
son  could  see  from  his  hilltop  that  the  building  was 
safe,  he  concluded  that  he  had  better  go  to  her  at 
once.  She  met  him  at  the  doorway,  and  told  him 
that  she  should  have  felt  aggrieved  if  he  had  not 
come  to  her;  for  in  truth  it  seemed  as  if  the  day 


67 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

of  judgment  was  at  hand.     Nevertheless  she  did 
not  appear  to  have  been  greatly  agitated. 

Mr.  Stearns  said  afterwards  that  the  tornado 
appeared  to  be  about  a  thousand  feet  in  height, 
funnel-shaped,  dusky-black  at  the  lower  end,  with 
something  like  a  proboscis,  which  hooked  up  trees 
and  buildings.  Shingles  and  branches  could  be 
seen  whirling  about  in  it,  and  it  danced  along  like 
a  demoniac  creature. 

Madam  Stearns  was  now  sixty-eight,  and  she 
felt  her  age  heavily.  Naturally  of  a  robust  con 
stitution,  the  cares  which  her  husband's  early  death 
brought  on  her  had  greatly  diminished  her  strength. 
The  misfortunes  of  her  son  Henry  made  her 
gloomy  and  taciturn,  in  spite  of  the  devoted  atten 
tion  of  George,  who  was  more  solicitous  of  her 
welfare  than  ever.  He  purchased  a  white  horse 
for  her  (named  Dolly),  and  when  he  could  not 
find  time  to  drive  her  out  himself  he  persuaded  his 
wife  to  do  so.  In  truth  this  was  no  sinecure,  for 
the  old  lady  was  sometimes  irritable  and  at  other 
times  despotic.  She  made  several  calls  on  her 
daughter-in-law  during  the  summer  of  1852,  and 
on  one  occasion  met  Mrs.  L.  Maria  Child,  whom 
she  attacked  so  furiously  that  Mrs.  Child,  who  as 
an  abolitionist  was  accustomed  to  such  encounters, 
confessed  afterward  that  she  had  never  found  it 
more  difficult  to  preserve  her  temper. 

On  Thanksgiving  Day  in  1852  there  was  to  be 
a  ship  launched  opposite  Madam  Stearns'  house  on 
High  Street,  and  she  exerted  herself  with  her  old 
energy  to  make  an  occasion  of  it  for  her  grand- 

68 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

children.  She  had  her  Thanksgiving  dinner 
cooked  to  perfection,  and  after  that  the  neighbors' 
children  were  brought  in  to  enjoy  a  share  of  the 
nuts  and  candy.  Then  the  whole  party,  except  the 
two  ladies,  went  out  on  the  marshes  to  see  the  ship 
launched,  soon  after  four  o'clock,  in  the  level  rays 
of  the  setting  sun. 

This  was  Madam  Stearns'  last  Thanksgiving 
Day.  She  dragged  through  a  wretched  winter,  and 
died  the  following  June,  after  a  painful  illness, 
which  she  endured  in  a  truly  Spartan  manner. 
The  funeral  ceremony  was  worthy  of  her  dignified 
character.  She  had  lived  the  life  of  a  devoted 
wife  and  mother,  and  she  had  received  in  return 
obedience,  devotion,  and  honor.  On  such  a  theme 
Rev.  John  Pierpont  could  be  very  eloquent,  and 
so  he  was  on  this  occasion.  She  was  buried  in  the 
old  Medford  Cemetery,  where  her  husband  and 
daughter  had  gone  before  her. 

It  is  remarkable  the  number  of  calls  that  were 
made  on  Mr.  Stearns'  generosity  during  these 
years,  and  the  way  in  which  he  met  them.  He 
gave  so  largely  in  aid  of  the  sufferers  by  the  Irish 
famine,  that  his  brother-in-law,  Rev.  Dexter  Clapp, 
spoke  of  it  as  George  Stearns'  prodigality.  In 
1849  m's  father-in-law,  Judge  Preston,  lost  his 
position  by  a  political  trick  of  the  Maine  legislature, 
and  soon  afterward  lost  the  best  of  his  property 
by  a  flaw  in  the  title  (a  strange  oversight  for  a 
lawyer),  and  this  proved  a  new  and  serious  respon 
sibility  to  Mr.  Stearns.  In  1850  there  was  a  great 
conflagration  in  Medford ;  that  portion  of  the  town 
was  destroyed  whose  inhabitants  could  least  afford 

69 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

to  lose  their  homes — the  ship-carpenters  and  other 
mechanics.  The  fire  broke  out  early  in  the  even 
ing  and  Mr.  Stearns  and  his  clerk,  Mr.  Collins, 
who  happened  to  be  calling  at  the  house,  ran  at  once 
to  the  scene  of  action,  and  worked  most  of  the 
night  like  common  firemen.  The  day  following, 
he  went  again  with  open  purse,  giving  sums  for 
immediate  relief,  and  promising  loans  for  rebuild 
ing  to  those  whom  he  could  trust.  One  of  these 
loans  was  not  paid  till  after  Mr.  Stearns'  death. 

While  Charles  Sumner  was  in  Europe,  he  became 
acquainted  with  Mazzini,  Louis  Blanc,  and  other 
revolutionary  leaders ;  so  that  when  the  revolution 
of  1848  broke  out  Sumner's  friends  naturally  con 
gregated  at  his  office  to  hear  him  discuss  the  news. 
It  was  there  that  Mr.  Stearns  became  acquainted 
with  Frank  W.  Bird,  John  A.  Andrew,  and  Dr. 
S.  G.  Howe,  who  had  himself  been  a  member  of 
the  Internationals  and  had  served  as  their  emis 
sary  during  the  last  Polish  insurrection.  Mr. 
Stearns'  keen  philanthropic  interest  in  the  liberal 
tendencies  of  the  time  was  much  augmented  by 
these  associations.  Sumner  said,  the  rule  was  that 
revolutions  succeeded  in  France,  but  failed  else 
where.  Yet  he  was  sanguine,  in  spite  of  the  rose- 
colored  hue  which  affairs  took  on  at  the  start. 
When,  however,  Louis  Napoleon  was  chosen  presi 
dent  of  the  French  republic,  Sumner  looked  very 
grave;  and  after  the  suppression  of  the  Roman 
republic  by  French  troops  he  gave  up  all  hope. 
"  The  effect  of  military  glory  on  large  masses 
of  men,"  said  he,  "  is  almost  as  pernicious  as  war 

70 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

itself."  He  had  also  known  Louis  Napoleon  per 
sonally;  and  if  he  underrated  his  ability,  he  judged 
only  too  exactly  of  the  man's  character.  He  did 
not  believe  that  Louis  was  a  Bonaparte  at  all — he 
did  not  look  like  the  Bonapartes — and  but  for  his 
name  he  would  be  nothing.  The  suppression  of 
the  Roman  republic  indicated  a  bargain  between 
Louis  and  the  Pope. 

The  Hungarians  were  not  forgotten,  but  very 
little  was  known  of  them  in  America.  They  were 
supposed  to  be  descended  from  a  Tartar  race,  and 
to  be  somewhat  more  civilized  than  the  Turks. 
They  possessed  no  characteristics,  however,  of 
Turk  or  Tartar,  except  their  fine  horsemanship. 
They  were  one  of  the  first  nations  to  embrace 
Protestantism,  and  no  other  race  has  adhered  to 
it  under  such  terrible  persecution.  When  Kossuth 
and  his  train  of  fellow  exiles  came  to  this  country 
in  1851,  people  were  astonished  to  see  a  class  of 
men  more  elegant  and  more  accomplished  than  the 
average  English  traveller.  Kossuth  himself  was 
a  magnificent  type  of  the  statesman  and  patriot, 
the  Gladstone  of  Hungary;  and,  like  Gladstone, 
his  failure  was  inevitable  from  the  first.  Learn 
ing,  literature,  art,  music,  philosophy,  all  con 
tributed  to  make  him  what  he  was — a  complete 
man.  His  world-wide  celebrity  is  an  instance 
of  the  homage  which  mankind  pays  to  a  glorious 
defeat. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stearns  went  to  call  on  him  in 
Boston,  and  purchased  a  number  of  his  ten-dollar 
certificates,  payable  five  years  after  the  independ 
ence  of  Hungary.  After  he  had  gone  to  New 

7i 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

York  Mr.  Stearns  sent  him  a  more  considerable 
sum  and  received  in  return  the  following  letter: 

"  NEW  YORK,  June  i/th,  1852. 

"  MR.  GEORGE  L.  STEARNS  AND  LADY, 

"  BOSTON. 

1  You  have  honored  me  today  with  such  a  gen 
erous  material  aid  for  my  poor,  suffering  country, 
and  have  done  it  in  such  a  kind,  such  affectionate 
manner  that  it  becomes  a  necessity  to  my  feelings, 
not  only  to  express  to  you  my  heartfelt,  warm 
thanks,  but  also  to  say  that  you  have  bestowed  to 
my  sad  heart  the  benefit  of  a  moment  full  of  con 
solation,  which  does  one  good,  and  the  memory  of 
which  will  rest  upon  me  like  a  ray  of  joy.  God 
the  Almighty  bless  you. 

"  Your  most  obliged  and  thankful  servant, 

"  L.  KOSSUTH/' 

Among  those  who  interested  themselves  at  this 
time  in  the  Hungarian  exiles,  Henry  W.  Longfel 
low,  George  S.  Hillard,  and  George  L.  Stearns 
were  the  most  conspicuous.  They  were  all  influen 
tial  with  the  solid  men  of  Boston,  and  succeeded 
in  raising  a  large  subscription  for  their  proteges. 
A  riding-school  was  organized  for  General  Kalap- 
kur,  who,  however,  proved  shortly  afterward  to 
be  a  great  rascal.  He  took  advantage  of  his  posi 
tion  to  run  up  debts,  and  borrowed  money  in  every 
direction ;  and,  after  spending  an  extravagant  sum 
mer  at  Nahant,  he  suddenly  gave  his  creditors  the 
slip  and  took  a  steamer  for  Europe.  The  charge 
of  the  riding-school  then  fell  upon  Colonel  Thuolt, 
who  proved  entirely  satisfactory ;  and  it  is  difficult 

72 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

to  say  whether  he  or  his  wife  were  the  finer  type 
of  the  true  Magyar.  The  memory  of  Madam 
Thuolt  is  still  cherished  in  the  Stearns  family,  and 
her  husband  was  not  only  one  of  the  handsomest  of 
men,  but  bore  every  mark  of  the  true  soldier.  The 
Thuolts  were  great  favorites  in  Boston  society. 

Mr.  Stearns  became  intimately  acquainted  also 
with  Rev.  Gideon  Achs,  Captain  Kinizsy,  and  a 
pianist  named  Zerdahelyi,  for  whom  he  practically 
kept  open  house.  They  were  more  cultivated,  as 
well  as  better  educated  than  the  men  with  whom 
he  had  been  brought  up;  so  that  the  advantage 
was  not  altogether  on  one  side.  He  was  surprised 
to  find  that  Mr.  Achs  was  a  Unitarian  and  agreed, 
point  for  point,  with  Rev.  Caleb  Stetson.  He  was, 
moreover,  a  fine  oriental  scholar,  and  gave  courses 
of  lectures  on  Egypt  and  the  Assyrians.  Captain 
Kinizsy  was  a  cavalry  officer,  and  had  fought  in 
several  engagements  and  skirmishes,  bringing  away 
a  scar  on  his  face  as  the  memorial  of  an  Austrian 
sabre.  Mr.  Zerdahelyi  was  the  most  fortunate  of 
the  exiles,  for  he  brought  with  him  a  profession 
by  which  he  could  support  himself  without  assist 
ance.  He  was  a  friend  of  Liszt  the  composer, 
and  considered  one  of  the  best  pianists  in  Vienna, 
but  after  six  months  in  an  Austrian  prison  his 
nerves  became  so  shattered  that  he  was  never  again 
able  to  perform  in  public.  He  relinquished  a  large 
income  as  a  teacher  in  Vienna  to  enlist  as  a  Hun 
garian  soldier.  There  was  something  very  pathetic 
in  Zerdahelyi's  expression;  a  look  absent  and  dis 
tracted,  such  as  one  could  imagine  in  King  Lear. 
Yet  this  was  more  physical  than  mental.  When 

73 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

the  Civil  War  began  in  1861,  he  wanted  to  enlist, 
but  failed  to  pass  a  medical  examination.  He 
then  wrote  a  series  of  lectures  on  infantry  tactics, 
which  were  delivered  before  the  Lowell  Institute. 
He  fell  in  love  with  a  country  girl,  the  daughter 
of  a  well-to-do  farmer,  and,  supposing  that  in  a 
democratic  country  she  would  be  received  by  his 
friends,  he  married  her.  Unfortunately,  it  was 
discovered  that  she  had  served  as  a  waitress  in  a 
summer  hotel,  and  this  closed  even  Mrs.  Hillard's 
philanthropic  door  to  her.  Afterwards  Mr.  Zer- 
dahelyi  went  to  Philadelphia,  where  his  wife,  being 
less  known,  was  more  favorably  considered,  and 
Rev.  Samuel  Longfellow,  who  met  her  there,  spoke 
of  her  as  a  superior  sort  of  person, — which  she 
probably  was. 

These  three  Hungarians,  and  sometimes  others, 
were  entertained  by  Mr.  Stearns  once  a  week,  and 
after  dinner  they  smoked  their  cigars,  talked  poli 
tics,  and  told  anecdotes  of  Hungarian  life,  reaching 
far  back  into  the  Middle  Ages.  They  could  tell 
something,  too,  about  every  prince  and  potentate 
in  Europe.  In  this  way  Mr.  Stearns  acquired  a 
knowledge  of  European  affairs  such  as  often  sur 
prised  those  who  thought  they  knew  more  in  that 
line  than  he  did. 

After  the  cigars  Mr.  Zerdahelyi  would  play  a 
sonata  or  two  on  the  piano,  and  this  Mr.  Stearns 
enjoyed  as  much  as  any  of  them.  He  often  went 
to  the  symphony  concerts,  and  was  one  of  those 
solid  men  of  Boston  whom  the  musical  fraternity 
always  depended  on  when  the  subscription  paper 
went  round. 

74 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Kossuth  had  a  sister,  or  perhaps  a  cousin,  mar 
ried  to  a  rascally  Pole  named  Zulavsky,  who  played 
much  the  same  game  in  America  as  General 
Kalapkur.  At  the  end  of  a  year  he  disappeared, 
leaving  his  wife  and  three  boys  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic.  Something  had  to  be  done  for  her;  so 
Mr.  Stearns  and  Mr.  Hillard  raised  a  subscription 
for  her.  Madam  Zulavsky  had  managed  a  large 
estate  in  Hungary,  while  her  husband  smoked 
and  gambled  at  Vienna;  and  she  thought  with  the 
help  of  her  boys  she  might  make  a  farm  profitable 
in  America.  Mr.  Stearns  knew  that  was  not  likely 
in  New  England,  so  he  went  himself  to  Orange 
County,  New  Jersey,  and  hunted  up  just  the  right 
place  for  her;  looked  after  the  purchase  and  the 
mortgage  deed,  and  other  details.  How  much  he 
enjoyed  this  labor  of  love,  only  the  disinterested 
can  know. 

Madam  Zulavsky  made  a  success  of  her  dairy- 
farm,  but  she  did  not  live  many  years.  In  1858 
her  eldest  son  went  over  to  join  Garibaldi  in  his 
attack  on  Naples,  and  Mr.  Stearns  gave  the  second 
son,  named  Casimir,  a  place  in  his  counting-room. 
It  was  not  long,  however,  before  small  sums  were 
missing  from  the  cash-box.  As  this  had  never 
happened  before  Casimir  was  naturally  suspected, 
and  when  Mr.  Stearns  suddenly  charged  him  with 
the  theft,  the  culprit  broke  down  and  confessed  his 
guilt  with  great  contrition.  He  alleged  that  his 
salary  of  eight  hundred  a  year  was  not  sufficient 
to  enable  him  "  to  live  like  a  gentleman." 

Mr.  Stearns  forgave  him,  warned  him  of  his 
future  danger,  and  lectured  him  on  the  folly  of 

75 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

dressing  like  a  fop,  for  which  no  sensible  person 
would  think  better  of  him.  In  1861  Mr.  Stearns 
obtained  a  commission  for  Casimir  in  a  Kansas 
regiment,  and  two  years  later  he  received  infor 
mation  that  his  protege  had  been  convicted  of 
robbing  an  express-office  and  sent  to  the  Kansas 
state  prison.  The  third  son,  named  Ziga,  enlisted 
in  a  New  York  regiment,  and  died  of  fever  in 
Louisiana. 

Among  Mr.  Stearns'  numerous  acts  of  kindness, 
the  following  deserves  to  be  recorded  for  its 
romantic  character. 

While  Mrs.  L.  Maria  Child  was  editing  the 
Antislavery  Standard  in  New  York  City,  she  be 
came  acquainted  with  the  distinguished  Quaker 
philanthropist,  Isaac  T.  Hopper,  of  whom  she  after 
ward  wrote  a  biography.  He  had  a  son  named 
John,  who  would  seem  to  have  been  intended  by 
Nature  as  a  protest  against  broad-brimmed  hats 
and  solemn  faces.  He  was  a  lawyer  by  profes 
sion,  but  he  might  have  made  his  fortune  as  a 
comedian.  All  the  world  was  a  stage  to  him. 
His  acting  began  at  breakfast  and  only  ended  at 
bedtime.  He  was  a  whole  theatre  in  himself; 
and  was  besides,  what  actors  very  rarely  are,  a  re 
markable  wit.  His  wit  was  not  a  keen,  biting 
satire,  nor  was  it  ever  coarse,  but  healthy,  good- 
humored  fun,  like  that  in  the  "  Merry  Wives  of 
Windsor/'  Such  an  irrepressible  person  could  not 
remain  long  in  the  church  of  William  Penn ;  and 
it  was  the  acme  of  John's  delight  to  observe  the 
difficulty  with  which  his  father  and  mother  re 
pressed  their  amusement  at  his  proceedings. 

76 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Such  men  are  born  to  make  the  world  laugh 
at  itself,  to  cure  dyspepsia,  physical  and  moral. 
John  could  not  do  this  on  a  large  scale,  like  Field 
ing  and  Dickens,  but  he  was  invaluable  to  his 
friends ;  among  whom  there  were  many  who  after 
wards  became  distinguished,  like  Professor  Lang- 
dell  and  Minister  Choate. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  John  acquired  his 
acting  wholly  out  of  his  own  head.  It  is  said  that 
when  he  was  sixteen  years  old  his  father  heard  of 
his  going  to  Wallack's  theatre.  When  questioned 
as  to  it,  John  confessed  his  guilt  with  an  air  of 
demure  simplicity;  and  when  the  anxious  parent 
inquired  how  many  times  he  had  been  to  the  theatre 
he  coolly  replied :  "  More  than  twenty,  father ; 
but  I  am  sure  I  haven't  been  thirty  times."  Said 
Isaac  T.  Hopper :  "  John !  thou  mayest  go  to  the 
theatre." 

Impulsive  natures  make  early  marriages,  and  it 
increased  Mrs.  Child's  interest  in  the  Hopper 
family  to  find  that  John  was  in  love  with  a  beauti 
ful  young  lady  belonging  to  a  wealthy  and  high- 
spirited  family  in  Rhode  Island.  Unfortunately, 
the  father  of  his  Rosalie  had  acquired  his  property 
in  the  slave-trade,  and  the  idea  of  his  finest 
daughter  marrying  the  son  of  an  abolitionist  was 
as  hateful  to  him  as  death  itself.  Before  John  had 
a  fair  chance  to  ask  him  for  the  hand  of  Rosalie, 
the  old  gentleman  warned  him  off  the  premises. 
This  precipitated  matters  most  unexpectedly  for 
all  parties.  John  was  not  yet  in  a  financial  con 
dition  to  support  a  wife,  but  he  was  wise  enough 
to  know  that  one  must  strike  while  the  iron  is 

77 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

hot.  Miss  Rosalie  was  an  even-tempered  person, 
but  she  had  no  intention  of  giving  up  her  lover. 
A  runaway  match  followed,  and  John  brought  his 
blooming  bride  to  his  father's  house. 

Old  Isaac  T.  Hopper  looked  very  grave;  but 
L.  Maria  Child  was  delighted.  Here  was  a  gen 
uine  romance  in  the  prosaic  nineteenth  century. 
The  Montagues  and  Capulets  had  come  to  life 
again.  It  was  Romeo  and  Juliet  without  the 
catastrophe.  There  was  not  going  to  be  any 
catastrophe.  It  is  doubtful  if  the  emancipation 
of  the  negroes  in  1863  gave  her  greater  satisfaction. 

Meanwhile  the  young  couple  could  not  live  on 
nothing  a  year.  Something  must  be  done  for 
them.  She  would  go  to  Boston  and  consult  her 
practical  nephew,  George  L.  Stearns,  the  man  who 
helped  everybody.  This  she  did,  and  in  her  enthu 
siasm  fairly  expected  Mr.  Stearns  to  take  John 
Hopper  into  partnership.  He  could  not  do  that, 
but  he  advised  a  salaried  position  of  some  kind,  and 
was  confident  that  sooner  or  later  he  could  assist 
him.  Mrs.  Child  brought  the  young  bridal  pair  to 
Medford,  where  with  her  assistance  they  became 
fast  friends  with  the  family;  so  that  for  eight  or 
ten  years  visits  from  the  Hoppers  in  summer  and 
excursions  to  New  York  in  winter  became  part  of 
the  domestic  routine.  Mr.  Stearns  finally  obtained 
the  agency  of  the  New  England  Life  Insurance 
Company  for  Mr.  Hopper,  an  important  position, 
in  which  he  gave  great  satisfaction.  It  only  re 
mains  to  be  said  that  the  married  life  of  John  and 
Rosalie  Hopper  proved  to  be  one  of  the  happiest 
of  which  there  is  any  record. 

78 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

A  few  years  later,  Rosalie  Hopper's  father  lost 
his  property  in  a  wild  adventure,  the  moral  con 
sequence  of  the  way  in  which  he  had  made  it. 
Then  John  became  the  main  support  of  his  wife's 
family.  It  is  also  noteworthy  that  neither  of 
Rosalie's  sisters  was  married  at  the  time,  and  if 
she  had  not  eloped  she  probably  would  not  have 
been. 

Soon  after  this  Ole  Bull,  the  Norwegian  violin 
ist,  came  to  Boston,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stearns 
went  to  one  of  his  concerts;  after  which  Mrs. 
Child  introduced  them  to  him,  and  the  whole  party, 
including  Jennie  Barrett,  the  actress,  went  to  sup 
per  at  the  Tremont  House.  Mrs.  Child  wanted 
Mr.  Stearns  to  invite  Ole  Bull  to  Medford,  and 
give  him  an  entertainment  worthy  of  his  genius; 
but  Mr.  Stearns  would  not  do  it.  He  said  to  his 
wife:  "  I  do  not  like  the  man  or  his  music;  "  and 
the  next  time  he  met  Mr.  Zerdahelyi,  he  asked  him : 
"  How  does  Ole  Bull  rank  as  a  violinist?  "  Zer 
dahelyi  looked  grave,  and  hesitated.  "  He  is  cer 
tainly  a  skilful  performer/'  said  he ;  "  but  he  de 
pends  for  his  popularity  on  stage  tricks — like  your 
Democratic  politicians — and  the  music  he  plays 
is  by  no  means  the  best."  Mr.  Stearns  used  to  say 
that  he  liked  Zerdahelyi's  playing  because  he  put 
his  whole  heart  into  it,  and  never  thought  of  him 
self  or  his  audience. 

Popularity  is  not  always  adventitious,  or  based 
on  illusions.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stearns  went  to  hear 
Jenny  Lind  when  she  came,  and  joined  in  the 
general  enthusiasm  for  her.  They  were  both  in 
the  hall  of  the  Fitchburg  depot  on  the  night  when 

79 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

there  was  such  a  crush  that  it  was  feared  the  build 
ing  would  give  way.  The  showman  Barnum  had 
sold  a  hundred  tickets  more  than  the  hall  would 
hold,  and  there  came  near  being  a  riot. 

Mr.  Stearns  unfortunately  knew  that  the  floor 
was  suspended  from  the  roof  by  iron  rods,  and  as  it 
was  impossible  to  escape,  he  calmed  his  fears  by  esti 
mating  the  weight  of  human  beings  in  the  hall,  and 
the  strain  which  the  rods  could  be  expected  to  bear. 
When  Jenny  Lind  came  forward  to  sing  the  uproar 
instantly  ceased,  so  that  one  could  have  heard  a 
pin  drop.  She  sang: 

"And  cooing  calls  the  tender  4ove  its  mate," 

so  that  it  seemed  as  if  there  must  be  doves  perched 
upon  the  cornices  of  the  hall. 


80 


V 

THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW 

CHARLES  SUMNER  was  the  answer  that  Massa 
chusetts  gave  to  Webster's  support  of  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law.  But  for  that  speech  on  March  7,  1850, 
it  is  possible  that  Sumner  would  never  have  en 
tered  political  life.  Until  that  time  he  had  not 
been  prominent  in  the  antislavery  cause, — merely 
because  he  could  see  no  way  in  which  he  might  be 
useful  to  it.  He  did  not  agree  with  Garrison,  that 
the  Constitution  was  "  a  covenant  with  death,"  for 
with  the  true  insight  of  a  statesman  he  foresaw  that 
it  was  only  under  the  Constitution  that  there  was 
any  chance  of  abolishing  slavery.  He  sympathized 
with  the  Free-soilers,  but  that  he  did  not  take  an 
active  part  with  them  is  probably  owing  to  the  fact 
that  he  was  intended  by  nature  for  greater  affairs. 
Like  George  L.  Stearns,  Sumner  belonged  to  a 
class  of  men  who  are  called  forth  by  national 
emergencies. 

Mr.  Stearns  was  too  clear-headed  and  practical 
for  a  rhetorician  to  influence  him.  He  must  have 
admired  Webster  in  his  best  days,  for  the  well- 
known  engraving  of  Webster  in  the  United  States 
Senate  hung  over  his  fireplace  for  many  years,  but 
he  never  could  reconcile  himself  to  the  fact  that 
Webster  neglected  to  pay  his  debts.  He  did  not 
believe  that  this  neglect  was  unintentional. 
"  There  are  people/'  he  would  say,  "  who  are 
6  81 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

unable  to  keep  out  of  debt,  and  to  whom  the  gen 
eral  public  is  a  sort  of  almshouse;  but  Webster 
was  not  one  of  them.  A  man  of  his  income  ought 
to  have  been  able  to  live  within  it." 

He  had  many  anecdotes  to  tell  of  Webster's 
impecuniosity ;  of  the  unfortunate  lady  who  asked 
his  advice  in  regard  to  the  investment  of  a  legacy 
of  two  thousand  dollars,  which  she  had  received; 
of  his  going  into  a  Boston  bank  and  requesting  the 
cashier  to  let  him  have  two  hundred  dollars,  which 
the  cashier  was  afraid  to  refuse  him,  and  which 
was  afterwards  charged  to  profit  and  loss;  and  a 
story  which  he  once  told  at  Mr.  Emerson's  in  Con 
cord,  of  a  collector  who  was  sent  from  New  Hamp 
shire  to  make  Webster  pay  some  debts  he  had  left 
behind,  and  after  vainly  trying  to  find  the  great 
man  at  his  office,  went  to  his  house  in  the  evening, 
where  Webster  greeted  him  so  cordially,  and  intro 
duced  him  so  quickly  to  a  number  of  distinguished 
guests,  that  the  man  went  away  without  even  men 
tioning  his  business.  To  this  Mrs.  Emerson  re 
marked,  with  some  asperity :  "  I  once  sent  Web 
ster  a  hundred-dollar  bill  as  a  retainer  for  the 
Jackson  family,  in  regard  to  the  French  spoliation 
claims,  and  that  was  the  last  I  heard  of  it.  I  sup 
posed  he  rolled  it  up,  and  made  a  stopper  for  his 
ink-stand  of  it." 

George  S.  Hillard,  who  supported  Webster  to 
the  last,  and  wrecked  his  own  political  prospects 
by  that  course,  thought  that  Webster's  imperious 
manners  were  sufficient  to  have  prevented  his  nomi 
nation  for  the  presidency,  even  if  he  had  not  lived 
in  Massachusetts.  Politicians  very  naturally  asked 

82 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

themselves,  What  will  such  a  man  do  if  he  once 
gets  into  the  White  House? 

The  Fugitive  Slave  Law  not  only  divided  the 
Whig  party  in  the  north,  but  the  Democratic  party 
also.  The  suspension  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus 
and  of  trial  by  jury  were  measures  aimed  directly 
at  the  root  of  republican  institutions,  which 
alarmed  the  more  conscientious  portion  of  the 
Democratic  party  and  prepared  it  for  a  coalition 
with  the  "  Conscience  Whigs."  The  first-fruits  of 
this  union  was  the  election  of  Sumner  to  the 
Senate,  and  its  final  result  was  the  birth  of  the 
Republican  party. 

Mr.  Stearns  was  present  at  the  meeting  of  the 
Free-soilers,  November  6,  in  Faneuil  Hall,  and 
may  have  been  one  of  the  promoters  of  it,  but  he 
talked  so  little  of  his  own  affairs  that  it  is  not  pos 
sible  to  say  this  with  certainty.  There  Charles 
Sumner  made  the  speech  against  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law,  which  gave  him  the  Senatorship.  No  one 
knew  before  that  time  what  a  force  there  was  in 
him,  or  how  useful  this  retired  scholar  could  make 
himself.  The  address  was  revolutionary,  and  legal 
pedants  have  blamed  him  for  it  ever  since ;  but  it 
proved  to  be  the  most  practicable  statesmanship. 
He  said :  "  We  are  told  that  the  slavery  question  is 
settled.  Yes,  settled,  settled, — that  is  the  word. 
Nothing,  sir,  can  be  settled  which  is  not  right. 
Nothing  can  be  settled  which  is  against  freedom. 
Nothing  can  be  settled  which  is  against  the  divine 
law.  God,  nature,  and  all  the  holy  sentiments  of 
the  heart  repudiate  any  such  false  seeming  settle 
ment." 

83 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

This  was  revolutionary  doctrine,  for  it  placed 
every  man's  conscience  above  the  law  of  the  land  ; 
but  it  was  precisely  by  this  that  Sumner  showed 
himself  the  great  political  leader.  It  was  the  key 
note  of  his  political  creed,  and  one  from  which 
he  never  swerved  until  slavery  was  practically 
abolished.  It  is  only  in  great  emergencies,  when 
every  patriotic  man  forgets  his  own  petty  interests 
in  his  anxiety  for  the  public  good,  that  such  a 
character  as  Charles  Sumner  can  find  a  place  in 
political  life. 

The  Fugitive  Slave  Law  affected  Mr.  Stearns 
like  the  blow  of  an  assailant.  He  purchased  a 
revolver  and  declared  that  no  fugitive  negro  should 
be  taken  from  his  premises  while  he  lived.  From 
that  time  his  political  activity  never  ceased.  Few 
vestiges  of  it  now  remain  from  this  and  the  four 
years  following,  for  the  part  he  acted  was  a  sub 
sidiary  one;  but  it  is  certain  that  he  was  in  fre 
quent  consultation  with  the  Free-soil  leaders,  for 
he  was  one  of  the  first,  if  not  the  very  first,  to 
inform  Sumner  of  his  intended  nomination  before 
the  Legislature  met  in  January,  1851.  "Nobody 
could  have  been  more  surprised,"  Mr.  Stearns 
said,  "  than  Sumner  was  at  this  suggestion ;  and 
it  was  even  difficult  to  persuade  him  to  become  a 
candidate."  He  exclaimed :  "  What  are  you  talk 
ing  about,  Mr.  Stearns?  Such  an  idea  never  en 
tered  my  head.  I  am  wholly  unfit  for  politics, 
by  taste,  education,  and  all  my  instincts.  It  would 
be  impossible  for  me  to  make  stump  speeches  and 
to  electioneer,  as  candidates  do.  I  could  not  do 
it,  and  besides  I  have  marked  out  a  very  different 

84 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

career  for  myself.  I  have  made  up  my  mind  to 
be  a  historian."* 

Nothing  could  express  more  perfectly  the  simple 
honesty  of  Sumner's  nature;  neither  on  this  occa 
sion  nor  any  other  did  he  make  the  least  effort 
in  behalf  of  his  own  interest.  He  was  wholly  a 
stranger  to  political  manipulation ;  and  if  he  lived 
at  the  present  day  there  would  be  no  place  for  him 
in  public  life,  however  distinguished  he  might  be 
come  otherwise.  Yet  in  1872  William  Lloyd 
Garrison  published  the  statement  that  Sumner 
joined  the  anti-slavery  cause  late,  and  evidently 
from  interested  motives. 

Sumner's  election,  like  the  first  election  of  Sena 
tor  Hoar,  was  the  result  of  a  bargain ;  but  it  was 
an  honest  bargain.  In  one  instance  the  Free- 
soilers  pledged  themselves  to  vote  for  George  S. 
Boutwell  for  governor,  and  in  the  other  the  Re 
publicans  voted  for  William  Gaston.  Bargains 
for  this  purpose  were  made  all  over  the  state ;  but 
such  combinations  are  only  possible  with  a  large 
number  of  people,  where  there  is  an  underlying 
principle  to  support  them.  The  underlying  prin 
ciple  in  Sumner's  case  was  opposition  to  Webster; 
and  in  Senator  Hoar's  case,  to  General  Butler. 
Masses  of  men  are  actuated  either  by  self-interest 
or  opinion,  and  in  voting,  the  measure  of  self- 
interest  is  commonly  a  very  small  one. 

Mrs.  Stearns  never  saw  her  husband  return  from 
Boston  with  such  a  happy  face  as  on  that  day.  He 
said :  "  Sumner  is  elected ;  and  I  believe  it  is  the 

*  From  an  old  manuscript  of  Mrs.  Stearns. 
85 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

beginning  of  a  new  era  for  this  country."  Mr. 
Stearns  was  always  a  gentleman,  but  his  broad 
humanitarian  sympathies  inclined  him  more 
strongly  to  association  with  men  like  Sumner, 
Andrew,  and  Wilson,  than  with  the  more  aristo 
cratic  Free-soilers,  like  Charles  Francis  Adams  and 
E.  Rockwood  Hoar. 

Mr.  Stearns'  relations  with  his  Beacon  Street 
friends  had  been  cooling  for  some  years  past,  and 
his  support  of  Sumner  brought  them  finally  to  an 
end.  It  was  the  change  from  conventional  society, 
with  its  mill-round  of  compliments  and  small  en 
tertainments,  to  the  conversation  of  vigorous  and 
original  minds.  In  1851  Mrs.  Stearns  gave  an 
evening  party  to  nearly  every  person  in  Medford 
society;  but  this  was  the  last  occasion  of  the  kind 
for  twelve  years.  After  that,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Stearns  may  be  said  to  have  belonged  to  the  society 
of  friends.  They  only  visited  their  friends,  and 
only  friends  came  to  see  them,  which  was  much 
pleasanter  than  having  to  entertain  people  who 
care  little  or  nothing  about  you. 

One  of  the  last  of  Mr.  Stearns'  fashionable 
callers  was  Rev.  Dr.  Parkman,  of  Boston,  a  brother 
of  the  Dr.  Parkman  who  was  killed  by  Professor 
Webster;  and  the  circumstances  of  his  visit  are 
worth  mentioning  as  an  indication  of  those  peculiar 
times.  He  arrived  in  a  somewhat  heated  condi 
tion,  and  had  no  sooner  seated  himself  than  he 
addressed  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stearns  as  follows :  "  It 
is  truly  lamentable  to  see  how  this  rabid  radicalism 
abounds  in  the  community.  I  have  just  left  a 
young  man  in  the  Medford  stage  who  did  not 

86 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

hesitate  to  declare  that  the  whole  clergy  were  no 
better  than  a  pack  of  thieves.  And  this  young  man 
emphasized  his  statements  by  flourishing  a  pair 
of  the  largest  fists  that  I  have  ever  beheld;  so  I 
said :  '  Young  man,  I  am  grieved  to  hear  you  speak 
of  my  profession  in  this  manner,  but  if  you  will 
compose  yourself,  and  put  down  those  fists,  I  will 
argue  the  question  with  you/  Whereupon  to  my 
great  surprise  he  informed  me  that  he  was  a  non- 
resistant;  but  I  never  saw  such  large  fists  on  a 
non-resistant  before."  Mr.  Stearns  had  little  sym 
pathy  with  non-resistants,  and  none  at  all  with 
stage-coach  radicals;  and  he  always  enjoyed 
hearing  his  wife  relate  this  anecdote  of  Dr. 
Parkman,  whom  he  respected  for  his  genuine 
conservatism. 

Thg  Fugitive  Slave  Bill  was  a  revolutionary 
measure,  which  naturally  produced  countermeas- 
ures  of  the  same  character.  One  of  these  was  the 
organization  of  a  secret  society  in  Boston  to  assist 
fugitives  and  counteract  the  law.  Theodore 
Parker  was  president  of  this  society. 

The  proceedings  of  this  secret  society,  if  they 
could  now  be  collected,  would  make  a  humorous 
and  entertaining  volume.  Theodore  Parker  and 
his  friends  did  not  succeed  in  preventing  the  ren 
dition  of  Sims  and  Burns,  but  they  assisted  a  good 
number  of  other  fugitives,  and  enjoyed  some 
romantic  experiences  in  this  kind  of  work.  One 
slave,  who  had  been  returned  to  his  master  by  the 
Boston  courts,  was  placed  on  a  coasting  bark  for 
transportation  to  South  Carolina.  An  emissary 


87 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

of  the  Sons  of  Freedom  informed  Thomas  Russell* 
of  it.  Russell  made  out  a  false  writ  of  some 
kind,  put  on  a  broad-brimmed  hat,  and  went  with 
a  few  friends  to  the  vessel,  where  they  swore 
so  loudly  that  the  captain  mistook  them  for  gen 
uine  slaveholders,  and  delivered  up  the  fugitive  to 
them.  They  then  put  the  negro  on  board  a  yacht, 
sailed  round  to  Cohasset,  took  him  across  the 
country  to  Framingham,  and  sent  him  off  to  Mon 
treal  the  next  day. 

One  morning  in  May,  1853,  a  negro  was  found 
asleep  on  the  hay  in  George  L.  Stearns'  barn.  He 
gave  his  name  as  William  Talbot  from  Snow  Hill, 
Alabama;  and  said  that  he  had  accompanied  his 
master  to  Philadelphia  to  ride  a  horse  at  the  races ; 
but  rinding  a  collier  there  whose  captain  wanted  a 
deck-hand,  he  had  shipped  to  Boston  without  ask 
ing  leave.  He  went  to  the  negro  quarters  on  Joy 
Street,  but  he  was  told  that  he  would  not  be  safe 
there,  and  they  advised  him  to  go  to  Mr.  Stearns' 
because  he  lived  in  an  out-of-the-way  place.  Mr. 
Stearns  took  pity  on  him,  and  hid  him  for  nearly 
a  week  under  the  floor  of  his  bathroom,  where  he 
must  have  been  much  less  comfortable  than  he  was 
in  Alabama.  After  five  or  six  days  the  officers 
appeared,  walked  round  the  house,  and  looked  in 
at  the  windows,  but  did  not  ring  the  door-bell. 
They  evidently  had  no  search-warrant.  Fortu 
nately  Mr.  Stearns'  hired  man  was  not  an  Irish 
man,  but  a  Scotchman,  who  showed  them  a  bold 
front,  and  gave  them  biting  replies  to  their  ques- 

*  Afterwards  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court. 
88 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

tions;  so  that  they  went  away  no  wiser  than  they 
came. 

That  evening  Mr.  Stearns  drove  William  Talbot 
to  Lowell,  and  the  night  following,  Talbot  was 
in  Montreal.  Three  years  later  he  returned  to 
Boston,  and  Mr.  Stearns  established  him  as  a  hair- 
cutter  in  Harvard  Square. 

Philanthropy  always  produces  imitators  and 
impostors.  Negroes,  however,  are  very  poor 
actors,  and  their  impostures  are  easily  detected. 
In  the  summer  following,  a  most  dilapidated  negro 
appeared  at  Mr.  Stearns'  door,  and  begged  protec 
tion  from  the  slave-hounds.  He  alleged  that  he 
had  escaped  from  Baltimore  on  a  coasting  vessel, 
and  was  trying  to  obtain  funds  to  reach  Canada. 
Mrs.  Stearns  placed  him  in  charge  of  the  cook, 
and,  ordering  her  carriage,  drove  around  to  various 
friends  of  the  cause,  who  gave  her  some  twenty 
dollars  for  him;  but  Miss  Mary  Osgood  advised 
her  to  make  inquiries  before  she  delivered  the 
funds  to  an  unknown  person.  So  she  drove  to 
Boston  and  consulted  Theodore  Parker,  who 
accompanied  her  to  the  antislavery  office,  where 
her  client  was  recognized  as  an  old  beggar  who 
had  worried  them  for  many  years.  "  Don't  let 
it  harden  your  heart,"  said  Mr.  Parker,  "  but 
sharpen  your  eyes  " — an  epigram  which  often  con 
soled  Mrs.  Stearns  for  the  loss  of  her  time  and  her 
trouble. 

Theodore  Parker's  wise  sayings  might  have  fur 
nished  a  modern  book  of  Proverbs.  He  was  once 
indicted  himself  for  harboring  a  fugitive  slave; 
but  the  district  attorney,  B.  F.  Hallet,  was  in  such 

89 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

haste  to  have  him  convicted  that  he  omitted  some 
important  phrase  in  the  legal  documents,  which 
nullified  the  prosecution.  Mr.  Parker  was  not 
slow  in  finding  this  out,  and  argued  his  own  case 
to  the  entertainment  of  the  court,  first  on  moral 
grounds,  then  on  what  he  considered  the  illegality 
of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill,  and  finally  he  exposed 
the  flaw  in  the  indictment,  which  quashed  the  pro 
ceedings  against  him.  As  he  was  leaving  the 
court,  Mr.  Hallet,  who  had  rather  a  squeaky 
voice,  said  to  him :  "  You  have  crawled  out  of  a 
very  small  hole  this  time,  Mr.  Parker,"  to  which 
Parker  replied  in  a  deep  bass  voice :  "  I  will  make 
a  larger  hole  next  time,  Mr.  Hallet." 

I  believe  there  never  has  been  an  instance  where 
a  person  who  had  once  escaped  from  slavery  volun 
tarily  returned  to  it;  though  we  must,  of  course, 
except  the  noble  Virginia  freedman  who  sold  him 
self  for  the  benefit  of  his  master's  family  after  it 
had  become  impoverished. 

Now  we  come  to  the  only  dark  corner  in  the  life 
of  George  L.  Stearns — a  corner  in  lead.  To 
understand  this  properly  we  must  recognize  that 
Mr.  Stearns  had  the  most  acute  New  England 
temperament;  his  mind  was  never  at  rest,  and  re 
quired  constant  nourishment  to  keep  it  in  good 
condition.  Having  perfected  his  own  business  in 
Boston  so  that  it  would  almost  run  itself,  he  looked 
around  like  Alexander  for  new  provinces  to  con 
quer.  Count  Rumford,  who  was  certainly  a  sen 
sible  man,  once  thought  he  had  discovered  perpetual 
motion,  and  Mr.  Stearns  believed  that  he  had  in- 

90 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

vented  a  formula  by  which  he  could  make  his 
fortune  at  a  single  leap.  His  idea  is  more  likely, 
however,  to  have  been  merely  an  exercise  of  in 
genuity,  for  he  never  cared  for  a  fortune  and  spent 
his  money  as  rapidly  as  he  made  it.  The  fact  that 
what  he  was  about  to  do  did  not  differ  essentially 
from  gambling  may  not  have  occurred  to  him, 
and  yet  he  must  have  realized  that  the  profits  he 
expected  to  make  would  not  be  like  an  improve 
ment  of  property,  but  would  be  taken  directly 
from  the  pockets  of  others.  He  never  explained 
his  motive  for  this  undertaking,  and  only  once 
remarked  concerning  it  that  life  was  "  too  short 
for  regrets. " 

It  is  possible  that  Tatham  Brothers  led  him  into 
it,  and  he  afterward  believed  it  was  their  treachery 
that  spoiled  his  game.  This,  however,  is  by  no 
means  certain.  He  went  to  New  York  in  July, 
1853,  and  commenced  buying  up  lead  as  fast  as  the 
cargoes  arrived,  and  borrowing  money  on  what  he 
purchased.  This  enhanced  the  price,  but  in  the 
course  of  three  weeks  he  came  to  the  extent  of  his 
means.  He  was  buying  against  himself,  and  as 
soon  as  he  attempted  to  sell,  his  castle  of  cards 
tumbled  down.  The  price  fell  rapidly.  He  went 
to  the  Tathams  for  assistance,  but  they  would  give 
him  none ;  and  within  three  days  he  lost  all  that  he 
owned  in  the  world. 

He  returned  to  Boston,  but  could  not  bear  to 
face  his  wife  and  children.  He  spent  the  night  at 
the  Tremont  House,  and  in  the  morning  he  sent  for 
his  friend  Peter  Butler,  who  was  a  speculator,  but 
a  very  kind  man.  This  was  the  wisest  thing  he 

91 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

could  have  done.  Mr.  Butler  was  shocked  at  his 
appearance.  Mr.  Stearns  was  lying  on  his  bed 
half  dressed  and  unshaven.  In  three  nights  he  had 
not  slept  eight  hours;  he  had  taken  no  breakfast 
except  a  roll  and  a  cup  of  coffee.  His  first  words 
were :  "  Butler,  I  wanted  to  blow  my  brains  out 
in  New  York,  but  I  thought  of  my  wife  and  could 
not  do  it."  Mr.  Butler  comforted  him  and  ordered 
a  breakfast,  which  Mr.  Stearns  ate  with  alacrity. 
They  then  talked  over  the  situation,  and  Butler 
said :  "  Just  lie  here,  Stearns,  and  go  to  sleep  if 
you  can,  while  I  go  down  to  State  Street  and  see 
what  can  be  done  for  you."  There  is  no  medicine 
like  human  kindness;  and  when  Peter  Butler  re 
turned  Mr.  Stearns  looked  like  another  man. 
There  was  no  one  in  Boston  who  could  raise  money 
more  quickly  than  Mr.  Butler. 

This  was  Peter  Butler's  statement  after  Mr. 
Stearns'  death.  On  his  return  he  could  promise 
Mr.  Stearns  a  sufficient  sum  to  enable  him  to  carry 
on  his  business.  Mr.  Stearns  went  to  Medford 
and  consoled  his  wife  as  well  as  a  man  could  with 
such  a  conscience  as  he  had  on  hand,  and  two 
days  later  returned  to  New  York  again. 

He  called  a  meeting  of  his  creditors  and  said: 
"  Gentlemen,  if  you  force  me  into  bankruptcy  my 
property  will  be  sold  at  a  disadvantage,  and  you 
will  get  about  fifty  cents  on  the  dollar ;  but  I  have 
a  good  business  in  Boston  which  pays  fifteen  or 
twenty  thousand  a  year,  and  if  you  will  give  me 
sufficient  time  I  can  liquidate  my  debts  to  you, 
principal  and  interest." 

Then  Benjamin  Collins,  who  was  his  largest 
92 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

creditor,  said :  "  My  son  has  served  his  time  in 
Mr.  Stearns'  counting-room,  and  I  have  such  con 
fidence  in  Mr.  Stearns,  that  I  will  take  his  notes 
for  one,  two,  and  three  years,  and  consider  that 
my  loan  is  amply  secured."  After  this  the  other 
creditors  quickly  came  to  terms.  The  smaller  ones 
were  paid  off,  partly  in  cash  and  partly  in  notes, 
and  the  larger  ones  were  secured  by  mortgages  on 
Mr.  Stearns'  house  and  on  the  mill  in  Charlestown. 
Mr.  Stearns  was  left  without  a  dollar  of  his  own, 
but  with  the  help  of  Mr.  Butler  and  Benjamin 
Collins  he  had  saved  his  business,  on  which  his 
whole  future  actually  depended. 

It  was  a  terrible  risk — this  doing  business  wholly 
on  borrowed  money;  and  if  he  had  met  with  bad 
fortune,  Mr.  Stearns  would  have  gone  under  and 
sunk  beyond  recovery. 

The  three  years  following,  however,  were  among 
the  most  prosperous  that  have  ever  been  known 
in  America.  The  gold  flowing  in  from  California 
was  of  great  advantage  to  people  in  active  business. 
It  lightened  the  burden  of  the  debtor  class,  and  was 
equally  a  disadvantage  to  their  creditors.  It  was 
a  frugal  and  economical  time  for  the  Stearns 
family,  but  they  were  none  the  less  happy  for  that. 
Mr.  Stearns  was  able  to  meet  Mr.  Collins'  notes  as 
they  fell  due,  and  in  the  spring  of  1857  he  could 
tell  his  wife  that  the  mortgage  on  their  homestead 
had  been  discharged;  which  he  said  in  quite  a 
business-like  manner  as  if  it  were  not  very 
important. 

There  is  no  instructor  like  experience.  What 
ever  may  have  been  the  reason,  George  L.  Stearns 

93 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

arose  from  this  evil  adventure  a  stronger  and  a 
better  man.  When  the  financial  panic  of  1856-7 
came,  he  stood  the  storm  like  a  rock,  while  his 
friend  Butler,  who  was  very  much  spread  out  in 
his  affairs,  would  certainly  have  failed  but  for  the 
assistance  which  Mr.  Stearns  rendered  him.  There 
were  many  poetic  incidents  in  the  life  we  are  now 
recording,  and  this  is  one  of  the  most  significant. 
It  was  destined  that  even  this  obligation  should  be 
requited. 

One  cold  winter  morning  in  1855,  Mr.  Stearns' 
two  boys  came  down  to  breakfast  and  found  a 
remarkably  thin,  spare-looking  gentleman  warm 
ing  his  hands  before  the  fire ;  and  he  said  to  them 
with  a  very  pleasant  smile :  "  I  lectured  in  your 
town  last  evening,  and  your  father  brought  me 
here  to  spend  the  night.  My  name  is  Emerson." 
He  then  noticed  an  atlas  for  astronomical  study  on 
a  sofa,  and  asked  to  whom  it  belonged.  "  Do  you 
know  Sirius  and  Aldebaran?"  he  asked.  "Do 
you  know  that  that  star  in  the  west  which  they  call 
Vega  is  moving  steadily  northward,  and  in  a  great 
many  thousand  years  will  become  the  polar  star  ?  " 
They  thought  he  was  the  pleasantest  man  they  had 
ever  seen. 

Mrs.  Stearns  discovered  that  Emerson  had  a 
boy  of  nearly  the  same  age  as  her  own;  and  she 
proposed  to  him  that  he  should  make  them  a  visit, 
which  was  happily  agreed  to,  but  deferred  until 
the  following  May,  when  she  wrote  to  Mr.  Emer 
son  on  the  subject,  and  received  this  characteristic 
letter  in  reply : 

94 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

"CONCORD,  28  May,   1852. 

"  MY  DEAR  MRS.  STEARNS  : 

"  What  a  lovely  memory  for  any  beneficent  pur 
pose  you  have!  My  little  boy  is  highly  pleased 
with  his  invitation,  but  unhappily  his  vacation  does 
not  square  with  Frank's.  Next  Saturday,  however, 
is  a  full  holiday ;  and  if  you  are  willing  to  take  the 
trouble  of  him,  and  Frank  will  run  the  risks  of  a 
new  acquaintance,  Edward  shall  go  down  in  the 
morning  train  from  Concord  at  7  o'clock,  to  be  at 
Porter's  at  7.50  A.M.  if  Frank  will  meet  him  there, 
and  if  you  will  be  so  good  as  to  see  that  he  is  at 
Porter's  again  at  6.40  in  the  evening,  he  will  have 
all  the  privilege  and  happiness  of  the  day, — '  no 
duty  left,  no  calling  books/  My  wife  is  very  sen 
sible  of  your  kind  thoughts  but  is  more  than  usually 
an  invalid  in  these  days. 

"  With  kindest  regards  to  Mr.  Stearns  and  to 
the  young  people, 

"Yours  faithfully, 

"  R.  W.  EMERSON." 

In  June  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stearns  were  invited  to 
spend  the  day  at  Mr.  Emerson's,  an  event  which 
gave  them  a  great  deal  of  pleasure.  Mr.  Stearns, 
however,  found  much  more  agreement  in  convers 
ing  with  Mr.  Emerson  than  Mrs.  Stearns  did  with 
his  wife,  who  held  strict  Puritanical  views  on 
morals  and  religion.  They  noticed  that  her  hus 
band  called  her  "  Queeny,"  and  she  certainly  pre 
sided  at  her  table  in  a  highly  dignified  manner. 


95 


VI 

THE  KANSAS  STRUGGLE 

THE  election  of  Franklin  Pierce  in  1852  elicited 
the  remark  from  Theodore  Parker  that  any  man 
was  in  danger  of  becoming  President  of  the  United 
States.  Probably  no  one  was  as  much  surprised 
at  his  nomination  as  Pierce  himself.  He  was  a 
modest,  amiable  man,  and  sufficiently  aware  that 
his  abilities  were  not  of  the  first  order.  He  was 
not  a  very  important  man  in  his  own  state.  He 
had  served  a  term  in  Congress  without  special 
distinction.  He  went  to  the  Mexican  War  as  a 
captain  of  volunteers,  and  his  promotion  was  evi 
dently  a  piece  of  political  favoritism.  He  never 
had  distinguished  himself  in  any  public  capacity, 
and  yet  he  was  elected  over  General  Scott  (who 
was  certainly  a  very  brilliant  officer)  by  a  majority 
such  as  had  not  been  known  since  the  time  of  Presi 
dent  Madison.  It  seemed  as  if  the  southern  slave- 
ocracy  would  accomplish  whatever  they  under 
took.  They  had  annexed  Texas,  and  conquered 
all  the  territory  west  of  it.  They  had  repealed  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  and  elected  a  president  who 
was  pledged  to  make  that  repeal  a  virtual  actuality. 

Mr.  Stearns  voted  for  Hale  and  Julian,  though 
the  prospect  seemed  rather  discouraging.  The 
Free-soilers  had  hoped  by  nominating  a  stronger 
man  than  Pierce  in  his  own  state  that  the  general 
public  would  appreciate  the  true  character  of  the 

96 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Democratic  nominee,  and  that  something  might 
be  accomplished  in  this  way;  but  the  result  disap 
pointed  their  expectations.  Hale  was  a  better  man 
than  Van  Buren,  but  Mr.  Stearns  learned  facts 
about  him  afterward  which  were  not  altogether  to 
his  credit;  and  yet  there  are  few  men  at  whose 
door  one  reproach  or  another  cannot  be  laid,  and 
those  who  lead  the  most  immaculate  lives  are  not 
always  the  most  useful. 

Mr.  Stearns  little  thought  as  he  sat  by  his  fire 
side  with  his  small  family  about  him,  and  read  in 
the  newspaper  of  the  gold  discoveries  in  California, 
how  his  own  fortunes  and  those  of  the  republic 
would  be  affected  by  this.  Nor  did  Captain  Grant 
in  his  tanner's  cottage  at  Galena,  Illinois,  imagine 
that  the  Kansas  conflict  would  finally  elevate  him 
to  the  presidency.  It  was  the  gold  of  California 
that  precipitated  the  Civil  War  through  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  chains  of  causes  and  effects  known 
to  history.  The  war  would  probably  have  come 
without  it,  but  at  a  later  time  and  in  a  different 
manner.  It  is  not  likely  that  the  Mexican  War 
would  have  unsettled  the  Missouri  Compromise, 
which  certainly  of  itself  was  a  very  fair  adjust 
ment.  Texas  was  admitted  into  the  union  with  a 
proviso  that  it  might  be  divided  into  four  different 
states,  should  circumstances  favor  this;  and 
although  the  population  in  the  Northern  states 
increased  more  rapidly  than  in  the  Southern,  this 
might  not  have  brought  about  a  collision  for  a  good 
many  years. 

If  any  further  condemnation  of  African  slavery 
was  required,  it  was  the  decision  of  the  people  of 
7  97 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

California  on  this  subject.  Never  before  had  a 
state  been  settled  by  such  a  heterogeneous  mixture 
from  all  parts  of  the  Union;  and  yet,  when  the 
question  of  slavery  in  the  state  was  voted  upon, 
there  was  found  to  be  less  than  a  score  of  votes  in 
favor  of  it.  This  was  the  handwriting  on  the  wall 
which  all  parties,  North  and  South,  should  have 
taken  notice  of ;  and  probably  it  was  to  the  South 
ern  mind  a  prophetic  danger  which  goaded  the 
slaveholders  to  acts  of  desperation.  They  looked 
for  territory  which  they  could  seize  to  counter 
balance  the  loss  of  California,  and  Kansas,  lying 
directly  west  of  Missouri,  seemed  to  be  their  best 
opportunity.  California  served  them  both  as  an 
incentive  and  a  pretext. 

This  would  have  been  not  so  very  unreasonable 
but  for  two  important  facts.  In  the  first  place, 
there  was  no  proviso  to  prevent  territory  west  of 
Kansas  from  being  afterwards  claimed  in  the  slave 
holders'  interest ;  and  in  the  second  place,  a  large 
number  of  Northern  farmers  had  already  immi 
grated  to  Kansas,  supposing  they  would  be  pro 
tected  there  by  the  Missouri  Compromise.  Slave 
labor  killed  free  labor  wherever  it  came  in  contact 
with  it,  and  these  farmers  would  have  been  nearly 
ruined  if  a  large  slave  immigration  to  the  territory 
had  taken  place.  Moreover  the  Western  farmers 
hated  slavery  and  believed  they  were  doing  God's 
work  by  opposing  the  attempt  to  thrust  it  upon 
them. 

Rev.  Edward  Everett  Hale  and  Hon.  Eli  Thayer 
were  the  first  to  sound  a  note  of  alarm.  Thayer 
founded  the  Kansas  Immigrant  Aid  Society,  in 

98 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

which  he  was  warmly  supported  by  Hale,  the  Law 
rences,  and  other  influential  Bostonians.  Mr. 
Stearns  must  have  also  been  interested  in  it,  for  he 
made  several  visits  to  Worcester  at  this  time  to 
consult  with  Mr.  Thayer,  but  we  have  no  further 
evidence  of  it  than  this.  The  movement  did  not 
prove  as  effective  as  was  anticipated  by  its  leaders, 
and  it  served  as  a  pretext  to  the  opposition  in 
Congress  that  the  Free-soilers  were  attempting  to 
gain  possession  of  Kansas  by  unfair  means, 
although  the  means  was  perfectly  lawful,  and  open 
to  the  use  of  both  parties.  It  was  natural  that  the 
Immigrant  Aid  Society  should  give  the  preference 
to  New  England  settlers,  and  the  greater  number 
of  Kansas  immigrants  came  from  the  farming  pop 
ulations  of  Ohio  and  Indiana,  and  either  knew 
nothing  of  Eli  Thayer's  bounty,  or  were  beyond 
the  reach  of  it.  The  immigration  was  so  large  in 
1855  that  it  supported  a  palatial  line  of  steamboats 
between  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City. 

A  new  and  strange  phenomenon,  however,  was 
now  rising  on  the  political  horizon;  namely  the 
American,  or  Know-nothing  party.  This  also  was 
one  of  the  consequences  of  California  gold,  but  it 
also  resulted  largely  from  the  dissolution  of  old 
party  lines.  The  rush  to  California,  and  the  gold 
that  was  pouring  in  from  that  direction,  had  in 
duced  a  much  larger  foreign  immigration  than  had 
ever  been  known  before.  These  immigrants  were 
mostly  Irish  Catholics,  who  were  all  pro-slavery, 
and  voted  the  Democratic  ticket — many  of  them 
before  they  were  properly  naturalized.  They 
wanted  freedom  for  Ireland,  but  objected  to  its  be- 

99 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

ing  conferred  on  the  black  man;  and  it  is  difficult 
to  account  for  this,  except  through  the  influence  of 
their  priests.  The  very  name  of  liberty  has  always 
been  hateful  to  the  Church  of  Rome. 

The  Fugitive  Slave  Law  divided  the  Democratic 
party  in  the  Northern  states,  as  well  as  the  Whig 
party,  but  the  division  was  not  so  perceptible. 
After  the  election  of  1852,  therefore,  Franklin 
Pierce  and  his  pro-slavery  cabinet  were  in  doubt 
as  to  whom  they  could  trust  to  fill  the  minor  offices, 
but  the  fidelity  of  the  Irish  could  always  be 
depended  on.  The  consequence  was  that  Pierce's 
administration  favored  the  Irish  at  the  expense  of 
native  Americans;  and  this  was  a  short-sighted 
policy,  like  most  of  the  measures  of  Pierce's 
administration,  for  it  excited  great  indignation 
among  the  industrial  classes,  and  resulted  in  the 
formation  of  the  short-lived  but  effective  Know- 
nothing  party. 

Mr.  Stearns  did  not  follow  his  friend  Henry 
Wilson  in  joining  that  party,  but  he  looked  upon 
its  successes  as  a  good  omen  for  the  future.  The 
day  after  the  November  election  in  1854  he  re 
turned  home  in  very  good  humor,  and  recapitulated 
the  number  of  instances  in  which  the  Know-noth 
ings  had  defeated  the  "  regulars."  "  It  will  break 
down  the  old  boundary-marks,"  he  said,  "  and  that 
is  what  we  want  just  now."  Wilson  afterward 
declared  that  he  joined  the  American  party  for  the 
purpose  of  breaking  it  up ;  but  Mr.  Stearns  thought 
it  more  likely  that  he  did  this  for  the  sake  of  popu 
larity — and  in  fact,  it  made  him  Senator.  At  the 
same  time  he  always  considered  Wilson  a  true 

100 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

patriot,   who  placed   the  interest   of  his   country 
before  his  personal  interest. 

About  this  time  Mr.  Stearns  began  to  wear  a 
long  patriarchal  beard,  which  became  him  remark 
ably,  and  was  imitated  by  John  Brown,  and  perhaps 
also  by  William  M.  Hunt,  the  artist.  It  resulted 
in  his  occasionally  being  mistaken  for  a  Jew ;  and 
ladies  of  fashion  stared  at  him  and  looked  upon  it  as 
an  eccentricity,  which  it  was  not  in  the  least.  Pre 
viously  he  had  worn  only  side-whiskers,  but  from 
1850  to  1854  he  suffered  from  bronchial  trouble, 
and  his  doctor  advised  him  to  let  his  beard  grow 
as  a  protection  to  his  throat  and  chest.  After  this 
he  had  no  more  bronchial  trouble,  but  the  beard 
itself  became  a  problem.  Several  hair-cutters  ex 
perimented  on  it,  and  he  tried  it  in  various  styles, 
but  finally  concluded  to  let  it  grow  as  long  as  it 
would.  There  was  no  Hebrew  blood  in  George 
L.  Stearns,  but  much  of  the  old  Hebrew  prophetic 
spirit,  and  his  long  beard  was  well  adapted  to 
the  essential  manliness  and  independence  of  his 
character. 

In  the  spring  of  1855  the  pleasant  little  Hun 
garian  club  was  broken  up  by  the  return  of  Captain 
Kinizsy  to  his  own  country.  His  father  was  old 
and  infirm,  and  the  Austrian  government  had 
granted  a  petition  for  the  recall  of  his  son — on 
condition  that  he  would  not  correspond  with  any 
person  in  England  or  America.  The  Thuolts  also 
went  back  to  Europe,  and  to  an  unknown  destiny. 
Mr.  Zerdahelyi  remained,  and  discoursed  fine  music 
for  many  years  to  come;  but  Rev.  Gideon  Achs 

101 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

was  obliged  to  leave  Boston  for  New  York,  where 
he  earned  his  living  as  a  photographer's  assistant. 

Mr.  Achs  had  heard  Sumner's  speech  on  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and  greatly  admired  it.  He 
could  not  understand  why  his  good  friend  George 
S.  Hillard  disliked  Sumner,  and  could  assist  in 
editing  the  Boston  Courier.  "  What  a  wicked 
paper  is  that  Courier/'  he  said  to  Mrs.  Stearns! 
"  If  I  should  see  Mr.  Stearns  praised  in  the  Courier, 
I  should  immediately  say  to  myself,  What  evil  thing 
has  Mr.  Stearns  been  doing  that  he  receives  the 
approbation  of  Mr.  George  Lunt?"  * 

As  the  antislavery  controversy  deepened,  those 
Northern  papers  which  supported  the  Southern 
view,  were  often  driven  to  desperate  arguments 
for  their  unholy  cause.  Its  aggresive  pro-slavery 
championship  finally  killed  the  Boston  Courier; 
and  when  George  S.  Hillard  was  left  without  an 
occupation  Charles  Sumner  obtained  his  confirma 
tion  by  the  United  States  Senate  as  district 
attorney. 

Captain  Kinizsy  was  detained  in  London,  by 
the  slow  process  of  the  Austrian  government,  for 
more  than  two  months,  and  during  that  time'  he 
wrote  Mr.  Stearns  a  number  of  letters,  of  which 
the  following  is  an  example : 

"  ii  LANGHAM  PLACE,  24  of  August,  1855. 
"  MY  KIND  BENEFACTOR  : 

"  When  you  bade  me  the  last  farewell  I  knew  entirely 
the  loss  I  had  by  missing  my  best  friend,  and  only  sister: 
now  I  feel  it. 

*  Lunt  was  the  managing  editor  of  the  Courier. 

102 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

"  I  found  here  many  friends,  among  them  two  whose 
friendship  was  proved  by  the  hardest  time,  and  for  cheer 
ing  up  my  melancholic  disposition.  Mr.  Remeinyi,  who  is 
a  most  extraordinary  man,  boy,  and  artist,  gave  me  tunes 
on  his  violin,  what  I  never  heard  as  yet.  If  Ole  Bull  is 
a  first  artist,  there  is  no  name  in  your  language  for  him. 
It  is  but  an  accident  that  I  met  him  here,  as  he  visited 
London  only  for  the  engagement  to  play  at  Osborne  Castle 
to  the  Queen.  Count  Teleky  introduced  me  to  some  Hun 
garian,  French,  and  Russian  families,  with  whom  my  time, 
I  may  say,  is  running;  but  still,  I  confess  openly,  since  my 
Medford  times  were  not  'running'  (though  it  seems  to 
be  a  contradiction)  I  could  find  in  them  more  sweetness  and 
friendship. 

"  Arriving  in  London,  I  went  to  the  Austrian  Legation, 
where  I  got  the  answer,  that  in  the  course  of  four  weeks 
I  shall  have  the  permission  of  returning  home.  .  .  . 

"  Yours, 

"L.    KlNIZSY." 

Remeinyi  was  one  of  the  first  violinists  of  his 
time,  and  a  much  truer  artist  than  Ole  Bull.  He 
invited  Kinizsy  to  be  his  guest  while  he  remained 
in  London  and  made  life  pleasant  for  him  there. 
The  French  victory  of  Solferino  humbled  the  pride 
of  the  Austrian  government  and  ameliorated  the 
condition  of  Hungary.  In  1860  the  exiles  were 
recalled,  with  the  exception  of  Kossuth  and  a  few 
others,  and  Rev.  Gideon  Achs  returned  to  take 
charge  of  the  same  parish  where  he  had  preached 
revolutionary  sermons  twelve  years  before. 

The  Kansas  struggle  has  become  an  oft-repeated 
tale,  and  every  historian  gives  it  a  slightly  different 
coloring  from  his  predecessor.  Rhodes,  one  of 
the  latest  writers,  has  attempted  to  make  out  that 

103 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

the  various  governors  appointed  by  Pierce  and 
Buchanan  were  uncommonly  high-minded  and 
judicious  functionaries,  who  were  only  prevented 
from  bringing  about  a  satisfactory  solution  for  all 
parties  concerned  by  the  disturbances  created  by 
John  Brown  and  James  H.  Lane.  He  even  repre 
hends  the  forwarding  of  rifles  by  Boston  merchants 
to  Kansas  farmers  for  self-protection;  and  we 
regret  to  find  a  much  better  writer,  Frederic  Ban 
croft,  following  him  in  this  particular.  Six 
months'  residence  on  the  frontiers  of  the  wild  West, 
even  at  the  present  time,  ought  to  satisfy  any  rea 
sonable  person  that  the  possession  of  firearms  in  that 
region  is  a  sine  qua  non  of  personal  safety,  and  both 
Rhodes  and  Bancroft  ought  to  be  aware  that  self- 
protection  is  one  of  the  inalienable  rights  guaran 
teed  by  the  common  law.  The  fact  that  the  Kansas 
farmers  required  better  firearms  than  those  with 
which  they  were  already  supplied  indicates  of  itself 
that  they  went  to  the  territory  with  peaceable 
intentions,  and  without  any  expectation  of  unlawful 
treatment.  This  is  equally  true  of  John  Brown, 
who  planned  to  go  to  Kansas  long  before  the  dis 
turbances  which  made  him  celebrated  arose  there.* 
We  wonder  at  this  time  whether  President 
Pierce's  conscience  ever  troubled  him  in  regard  to 
the  proceedings  of  his  administration.  When  his 
pro-slavery  governor  of  the  territory,  Mr.  Reeder, 
notified  him  that  Kansas  had  been  invaded  by  large 
bodies  of  armed  Missourians,  whom  he  had  no 
forces  to  resist,  and  who  burned  houses,  insulted 

*  See  Appendix    A. 
104 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

women,  destroyed  the  crops,  and  had  even  mur 
dered  a  number  of  Kansas  settlers  in  cold  blood, 
President  Pierce,  in  return  for  this  information, 
which  he  knew  well  enough  beforehand,  removed 
Governor  Reeder  from  office,  and  appointed  a  more 
pliant  incumbent  in  his  place. 

Governor  Reeder's  Kansas  experience  converted 
him  from  a  Jackson  Democrat  to  an  Abolitionist. 
Soon  after  his  dismissal  he  came  to  Boston  to  con 
sult  with  the  friends  of  Kansas,  and  Mr.  Stearns 
invited  him  to  dinner  with  his  wife  and  daughter — 
who  played  on  Mrs.  Stearns'  new  piano.  Gover 
nor  Reeder  felt  more  sorrow  and  pity  for  Franklin 
Pierce  than  anger.  He  pitied  any  president  who 
lacked  the  ability  to  hold  his  ground  against  the 
great  party-leaders.  Jefferson  Davis  was  the  real 
president,  and  it  was  he  that  supported  the  invasion 
of  Kansas;  but  the  most  unprincipled  man  in  the 
cabinet  came  from  Mr.  Stearns'  own  state.  Gov 
ernor  Reeder's  conversation  was  very  interesting. 

Democratic  newspapers  all  over  the  country 
either  denied  these  facts,  or  declared  that  they  were 
grossly  exaggerated,  but  Dr.  Charles  Robinson 
wrote  to  his  cousin,  Amos  A.  Lawrence,  in  Boston, 
a  detailed  statement  of  the  true  state  of  affairs.  A 
meeting  was  held  at  Mr.  Lawrence's  office,  attended 
by  George  L.  Stearns,  Dr.  Samuel  Cabot,  and  other 
friends  of  the  cause,  and  it  was  decided  that  first 
and  foremost  the  Kansas  settlers  ought  to  be  sup 
plied  with  efficient  firearms.  Farmers  always  keep 
shot-guns  for  the  benefit  of  obnoxious  animals,  but 
shot-guns  have  a  very  limited  range,  whereas 
Sharpe's  newly  invented  breech-loading  rifle  would 

105 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

be  a  more  effective  weapon  than  most  of  the  Mis- 
sourians  could  obtain.  A  subscription  was  accord 
ingly  raised  to  purchase  Sharpe's  rifles,  but  the  first 
consignment  was  imprudently  forwarded  by  way  of 
St.  Louis;  and  the  Missourians,  suspecting  the 
contents  of  the  boxes,  opened  them  and  confiscated 
the  weapons. 

This  not  only  disgusted,  but  discouraged  Mr. 
Lawrence,  who  did  not  quite  like  dealing  in  muni 
tions  of  war,  and  he  declared  that  he  had  done 
what  he  could  and  that  he  did  not  believe  in  trying 
to  save  Kansas  by  revolutionary  methods.  Mr. 
Stearns,  on  the  contrary,  asserted  that  a  revolution 
was  what  the  country  needed,  and  that  what  he  had 
given  so  far  was  only  a  pledge  of  what  he  intended 
to  do  in  the  future.  He  immediately  started  a  new 
subscription  and  forwarded  the  consignment 
through  the  state  of  Iowa,  so  that  it  reached  its 
destination  in  safety.  Meanwhile,  winter  weather 
proved  a  better  protection  to  the  free-state  men  of 
Kansas  than  any  assistance  which  Mr.  Stearns  and 
his  friends  could  give  them. 

At  this  time  John  A.  Andrew  had  a  law  partner 
— or  perhaps  an  office  partner — named  George  W. 
Collamore,  who  had  always  voted  the  Democratic 
ticket,  and  vowed  he  always  should  do  so.  He 
read  the  Boston  Post,  and  would  not  believe  the 
stories  of  Kansas  outrages ;  so  that  he  and  Andrew 
had  some  pretty  stiff  arguments  together  on  that 
subject.  Finally  Andrew  said  to  him :  "  Colla 
more,  I  know  you  are  an  honest  man,  and  I  will 
believe  anything  you  say,  which  you  have  seen 
yourself.  Now  if  you  will  go  to  Kansas  and  look 

106 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

up  this  subject,  and  can  prove  to  me  that  I  am 
mistaken,  I  will  vote  for  a  Democratic  president 
next  fall."  Much  to  Andrew's  surprise  Mr.  Colla- 
more  said :  "  Yes,  I  will  go  there,  and  I  will  bet 
the  expense  of  my  journey  against  your  vote." 

Accordingly,  when  spring  came  he  went,  and 
reached  Jefferson  City  safely  enough;  but  there, 
as  he  was  waiting  for  the  steamboat  to  put  off,  a 
gang  of  ill-favored  looking  men  came  on  board, 
surrounded  him,  and  asked  him  whence  he  came. 
"  I  am  from  Boston,"  replied  Mr.  Collamore. 
"  That  is  what  we  thought,"  said  the  leader  of  the 
gang;  "  and  you  will  oblige  us  by  returning  there. 

We  don't  want  any  d Yankees  in  the  state  of 

Missouri."  "  But  I  am  going  to  Kansas,"  said 
Collamore.  "  So  much  the  worse  for  you,"  replied 
the  spokesman.  "  We  don't  let  any  d aboli 
tionists  go  to  Kansas  by  this  route;  too  many  of 
them  there  now.  You  will  oblige  us  by  leaving  the 
boat."  "  But  I  am  not  an  abolitionist,"  said  Colla 
more;  "I  am  a  regular  Democrat,  and  voted  for 
President  Pierce."  "  That  makes  no  difference," 
said  the  Missourian ;  "  Yankees  can  lie  just  as 
well  as  other  folks."  As  Mr.  Collamore  showed 
no  inclination  to  obey  this  mandate,  four  of  them 
seized  him  by  the  shoulders  and  hustled  him  down 
the  gangway  in  the  roughest  manner,  one  of  them 
administering  a  hearty  kick,  as  a  parting  bene 
diction.* 

*  The  date  of  this  adventure  is  now  uncertain,  but  it 
probably  happened  in  April,  1856.  It  was  narrated  to  the 
writer  in  Lawrence,  Kansas,  August,  1862,  by  an  intimate 
friend  of  Mr.  Collamore,  there  called  General  Collamore. 

107 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

This  made  an  abolitionist  of  Mr.  Collamore  in 
less  than  five  minutes.  He  returned  to  Boston, 
where  he  narrated  his  adventure  in  John  A.  An 
drew's  office  to  the  great  amusement  of  his  friends ; 
but  he  did  not  care  for  their  laughter.  His  mind 
was  made  up  to  fight  it  out  on  that  line.  He  went 
to  Mr.  Stearns,  and  informed  him  that  he  intended 
to  emigrate  to  Kansas,  with  his  family,  and  that  he 
should  be  happy  to  serve  his  committee  there  in 
any  way  that  he  possibly  could. 

George  W.  Collamore  was  true  to  his  word.  He 
moved  to  Kansas  and  built  a  house  in  Lawrence, 
where  he  became  a  leading  and  greatly  respected 
citizen.  Of  all  Mr.  Stearns'  agents  in  Kansas  for 
the  distribution  of  rifles,  clothing,  and  other  sup 
plies,  he  proved  the  most  efficient.  Mr.  Stearns 
was  once  heard  to  say  that  he  wished  there  were 
more  men  in  Kansas  as  honest  as  General  Colla 
more.  In  1863  when  Quantrell's  guerillas  burned 
Lawrence,  General  Collamore  took  refuge  in  a 
well,  but  the  wooden  shed  above  it  was  set  on  fire, 
so  that  he  was  smothered  to  death.  Mr.  Stearns 
sent  for  his  family,  and  treated  them  as  if  they 
were  their  own  kindred.  To  Hamlet  Collamore, 
the  eldest  boy,  he  gave  a  place  in  his  counting- 
room. 

In  April,  1856,  Mr.  Emerson  was  again  at  Mr. 
Stearns'  house — a  visit  which  Mr.  Stearns  prized 
more  highly  than  he  would  that  of  any  president 
since  Washington.  He  found  Emerson  fully  alive 
to  the  danger  from  the  disturbances  in  Kansas. 
"  It  is  like  setting  a  fire  in  the  woods,"  he  said ; 
"  no  one  can  tell  what  will  be  the  end  of  it."  He 

108 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

thought  as  Mr.  Stearns  did,  that  it  was  a  critical 
period  in  the  history  of  the  republic,  and  that  the 
turning-point  had  come,  which  must  decide  the 
nation's  destiny  for  a  hundred  years.  He  was 
eager  to  hear  anything  that  Mr.  Stearns  could  tell 
him  concerning  Kansas  affairs,  and  the  character 
of  prominent  persons  in  the  territory.  It  was  com 
monly  Emerson  who  asked  the  questions  in  their 
conversations,  and  he  carried  this  sometimes  to  the 
point  of  inquisitiveness ;  so  that  Mr.  Stearns  con 
fessed  that  he  felt  as  if  he  had  been  placed  in  the 
witness-box;  but  it  was  always  evident  that 
Emerson's  interrogatories  did  not  arise  from 
any  idle  curiosity,  but  from  a  strong  desire  for 
accurate  information.  It  was  a  part  of  his  love 
of  truth. 

Charles  Reade's  novel,  "  Christie  Johnstone," 
was  just  then  making  its  sensation  in  the  world, 
and  Emerson  praised  it  highly.  Mr.  Stearns 
accordingly  purchased  a  copy  the  next  day,  but 
on  reading  it  expressed  surprise  at  Emerson's  judg 
ment.  He  did  not  like  the  style  in  which  the  book 
was  written,  and  when  he  came  to  the  passage 
where  Christie  is  described  as  deceiving  Mr.  Miller, 
the  fish-dealer,  and  read  the  commentary,  "  No  non 
sense  was  uttered  about  morality  in  connection  with 
trade,"  Mr.  Stearns  closed  the  book  and  never 
opened  it  again.  "  Charles  Reade,"  he  said,  "  has 
very  low  ideas  in  regard  to  mercantile  transac 
tions,"  and  he  wondered  that  Emerson  could  have 
overlooked  such  a  flagrant  statement. 


109 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

The  following  letter  to  Rev.  Samuel  Johnson 
enables  us  to  date  Mr.  Emerson's  visit  approxi 
mately  : 

"BOSTON,  April   10,  '56. 
"  MY  DEAR  FRIEND  : 

"  Your  first  note  came  to  me  on  Tuesday,  and  the  second 
on  my  return  from  Medford,  yesterday  afternoon.  If  we 
three  could  have  gone  to  Salem  I  think  we  should  have 
left  Mr.  Emerson  in  the  lurch,  and  passed  the  evening 
with  you.  The  temptation  was  very  strong. 

"  Mr.  Emerson  gave  us  his  lecture  on  Beauty,  a  rich  and 
profitable  truth,  one  that  will  last  forever.  Do  you  know 
we  have  concerts  every  Wednesday  afternoon  and  some 
good  music? 

"Truly  yours, 

"  GEORGE  L.  STEARNS/' 


no 


VII 

THE  KANSAS  AID  COMMITTEE 

THE  Civil  War  began  in  Kansas,  and  the  persons 
who  were  chiefly  responsible  for  this  were  Stephen 
A.  Douglas  and  Jefferson  Davis — names  which  the 
muse  of  history  will  always  write  with  an  averted 
face. 

Civil  wars  resemble  tornadoes,  which  are  caused 
by  a  stratum  of  heated  air  blowing  beneath  a 
stratum  of  cold  air ;  so  when  the  proper  order  and 
condition  of  affairs  in  society  becomes  reversed, 
civilization  makes  a  violent,  convulsive  effort  to 
right  itself.  Woe  to  the  future  of  the  nation  where 
this  does  not  succeed. 

In  considering  the  Kansas  disturbances  of  1855 
and  1856,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  there  was 
no  criminal  procedure  of  any  value  or  efficacy  west 
of  the  city  of  St.  Louis.  As  late  as  1880  it  was 
much  the  same  west  of  Topeka. 

The  experience  of  the  present  writer  may  be  of  some 
value  in  this  connection.  During  1879  and  1880  he  lived 
some  six  weeks  at  Abilene,  Wallace  and  Lakin  in  western 
Kansas;  and  for  more  than  a  year  in  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains.  In  each  of  those  towns,  which  contained  less  than 
a  hundred  inhabitants,  a  homicide  had  been  recently  com 
mitted.  In  each  case  the  perpetrators  had  come  originally 
from  Missouri  or  Arkansas.  In  two  cases  the  man  had 
been  arrested,  taken  to  Kansas  City  (out  of  the  state),  tried, 
and  acquitted.  The  Wallace  homicide  or  murderer  was  so 
impudent  as  to  return  to  his  own  town,  where  he  was  seized 

in 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

by  a  vigilance  committee  and  hung.  The  Lakin  homicide 
escaped  to  the  Indian  Territory,  and  no  attempt  was  made 
to  recover  him.  At  that  time  no  person  had  ever  been 
hung  for  murder  in  Colorado  according  to  law;  although 
in  March,  1880,  three  murders  were  committed  in  the 
railway  train  between  Denver  and  Pueblo.  A  negro  porter 
who  shot  a  negro  waiter  at  Manitou  was  condemned  to  two 
years'  imprisonment,  and  the  lightness  of  the  sentence  was 
generally  accounted  for  by  the  disappearance  of  a  thou 
sand  dollars  which  he  had  on  deposit  at  Colorado  Springs. 
Under  such  conditions  self-help  is  the  only  resource,  and 
if  it  were  not  for  occasional  lynchings  society  could  not 
be  held  together  at  all. 

When  we  add  to  this  general  state  of  insecurity 
the  fact  that  the  national  government  had  turned 
against  the  Kansas  farmers,  and  was  encouraging 
the  lawless  bands  of  Missourians  who  were  tyran 
nizing  over  them,  the  comfortable  citizen  of  New 
York  or  Philadelphia,  sitting  by  his  fireside,  smok 
ing  his  cigar  and  reading  the  evening  newspaper, 
may  acquire  some  conception  of  what  it  was  to  be 
a  Kansas  settler  in  1856.  Kansas  has  always  been 
prolific  of  tornadoes,  and  it  certainly  looked  as  if 
one  was  brewing  at  that  time — though  not  of  the 
physical  sort. 

There  were  now  two  governors,  two  chief  jus 
tices  and  two  legislatures  in  the  territory,  each 
of  which  held  the  acts  of  the  other  as  invalid, 
according  to  their  respective  parties.  Society  was 
in  a  state  of  incipient  revolution.  As  early  as 
April,  1855,  Governor  Robinson  wrote  to  Hon.  Eli 
Thayer : 

"  Our  people  have  now  formed  themselves  into  four  mili 
tary  companies,  and  will  meet  to  drill  till  they  have  per- 

112 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

fected  themselves  in  the  art.  Also,  companies  are  being 
formed  in  other  places,  and  we  want  arms.  Give  us  the 
weapons  and  every  man  from  the  North  will  be  a  soldier 
and  die  in  his  tracks  if  necessary  to  protect  and  defend  our 
right."  * 

This  sounds  fine  enough;  but,  unfortunately, 
when  the  time  for  action  came  Robinson  lacked  the 
courage  and  address  to  wield  the  organization  he 
had  created,  and  the  consequence  was  that  on  May 
2Oth  the  Missourians  entered  Lawrence,  burned  the 
hotel,  two  printing-offices,  and  various  other  build 
ings  in  value  worth  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  thou 
sand  dollars.  John  Brown  started  for  the  scene  of 
action  with  his  little  band  of  jayhawkers,  but  find 
ing  the  mischief  was  already  done,  he  returned  to 
his  own  ranch. 

The  news  of  this  outrage  created  a  fiery  debate 
in  the  United  States  Senate,  in  which  the  pro- 
slavery  leaders,  especially  Douglas  of  Illinois,  and 
Butler  of  South  Carolina,  were  driven  to  desperate 
arguments  in  support  of  their  vicious  cause — under 
the  well-directed  fire  of  Se\vard,  Trumbull,  and 
Chase.  This  culminated  the  following  day  in  the 
greatest  of  Sumner's  orations,  "  The  Crime 
against  Kansas,"  in  which  he  satirized  Douglas 
and  Butler  as  the  Sancho  Panza  and  Don  Quixote 
of  the  pro-slavery  cause. 

Professor  Von  Hoist  has  devoted  one  of  his  long 
est  paragraphs  to  the  disparagement  of  this  oration, 
but  it  was  really  the  most  impressive  speech  ever 
delivered  in  the  United  States  Senate.  It  has  not 

*  Blackmar's  Life  of  Robinson,  p.  132. 
8  113 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

the  beauty  of  form,  or  the  originality  of  thought, 
which  made  Webster's  reply  to  Hayne  a  landmark 
in  the  history  of  eloquence,  and  yet  it  possesses  liter 
ary  merit  of  a  high  order.  It  is  doubtful  if  Web 
ster  would  have  had  the  courage  to  deliver  it. 
Nothing  less  than  heroism  was  required  to  tell  the 
truth  to  that  bold  and  confident  oligarchy  which  had 
ruled  the  country  for  fifty  years.  It  was  like 
Mirabeau  facing  the  old  French  nobility.  It  re 
quires  courage  enough  to  tell  the  truth  concerning 
public  affairs  at  any  time. 

Sumner's  division  of  his  subject  in  this  oration 
is  like  solid  courses  of  masonry;  and  his  Baconian 
treatment  of  the  unprincipled  apologies  that  were 
being  made  for  the  outrages  in  Kansas  gives  the 
impression  of  superior  intellect  as  well  as  rare 
scholarship.  "  Thank  God  for  Massachusetts,"  was 
his  reply  to  the  malignant  attack  of  his  opponents 
on  the  character  and  culture  of  his  native  state. 
No  wonder  if  they  wanted  to  kill  him. 

The  assault  on  Sumner  which  followed  two  days 
afterward  is  without  parallel  in  the  history  of  popu 
lar  government.  He  was  struck  from  behind  while 
peacefully  writing  at  his  desk.  Preston  S.  Brooks 
had  all  the  characteristics  of  the  political  assassin, 
and  resembled  Wilkes  Booth  in  feature  and  ex 
pression.  In  a  civilized  community  he  would  have 
been  imprisoned,  and  Sumner  would  have  recov 
ered  heavy  damages,  but  in  the  District  of 
Columbia  there  was  no  redress. 

I  still  recollect  the  day  on  which  it  happened. 
The  blossoms  were  falling  from  a  large  cherry-tree 
in  the  front  yard.  Miss  Augusta  King,  of  Salem, 

114 


CHARLES  SUMNER 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

who  corresponded  with  Mr.  Stearns  for  several 
years,  and  other  ladies  were  in  the  house.  Mr. 
Stearns  entered  with  such  a  serious  face  that  every 
one  felt  the  shock  of  an  alarm.  He  said :  "  Sum- 
ner  has  been  struck  down  by  a  ruffian,  and  is  lying 
at  the  point  of  death."  Miss  King,  who  had  been 
an  early  friend  of  Sumner,  wept  bitterly.  All  the 
ladies  wept!  Then  after  a  time  some  one  said: 
"  What  a  sermon  Theodore  Parker  will  preach 
about  this  next  Sunday !  " 

In  the  evening  Miss  King's  brother  brought  the 
news  that  Dr.  Marshall  S.  Perry,  the  best  physician 
in  Boston,  and  also  Mr.  Stearns'  family  doctor, 
had  started  for  Washington.  This  was  somewhat 
cheering,  but  John  King  talked  in  a  very  discourag 
ing  manner.  "  The  South  will  always  get  the  best 
of  us,"  he  said.  "  They  are  united  and  the  North 
is  divided.  It  is  self-interest  that  makes  it  so. 
The  wealthy  and  educated  classes  are  mostly  pro- 
slavery." 

Mr.  Stearns  was  irritated,  and  replied  with  great 
energy :  "  I  admit,"  he  said,  "  that  the  sky  looks 
dark  at  present;  but  I  shall  never  give  up  hope. 
The  assault  on  Sumner  will  make  a  million  of 
abolitionists;  and  here  I  vow  to  do  what  one 
man  can,  and  to  devote  my  life  and  fortune  to  this 
cause."  *  After  the  guests  had  retired,  Mr.  Stearns 
told  his  wife  that  he  had  sent  a  letter  to  Dr.  Perry 
advising  him  that  if  he  would  go  to  Washington, 
his  expenses  should  be  paid ;  but  he  had  not 

*  This  and  other  extracts  from  an  old  MS.  of  Mrs. 
Stearns. 

"5 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

received  an  answer  at  the  time  he  left  his  counting- 
room. 

Dr.  Marshall  S.  Perry  was  supposed  to  have 
saved  Sumner's  life.  There  were  no  antislavery 
doctors  in  Washington,  and  the  pro-slavery  Whig 
who  was  called  in,  plastered  the  contusions  on  Sum 
ner's  head  so  tightly  as  to  threaten  inflammation  of 
the  brain.  Dr.  Perry  never  could  be  sure  whether 
this  was  the  result  of  malice  or  ignorance.  Mr. 
Stearns  sent  the  last  bottles  of  his  precious  Tokay 
to  Dr.  Perry  for  Sumner's  benefit.  It  was  said 
that  Dr.  Perry  declined  to  accept  any  remuneration 
for  his  priceless  services. 

The  poet  Longfellow  records  in  his  diary  May 
24th :  "  Great  excitement  in  town,  and  to-night 
a  great  meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall.  At  dinner — let 
me  record  it  to  his  honor — Felton,  who  has  had  a 
long  quarrel  with  Sumner,  proposed  as  a  toast, 
— '  The  reelection  of  Charles  Sumner.' ' 

On  June  4th  a  mass-meeting  of  the  first  citizens 
of  Boston  was  held  in  Faneuil  Hall  and  presided 
over  by  the  mayor,  Alexander  H.  Rice.  The  meet 
ing  was  called  to  order  by  Hon.  Thomas  G.  Carey, 
a  Beacon  Street  Whig,  who  had  always  supported 
Webster  and  Winthrop.  Senator  Wilson  was  the 
principal  speaker,  and  made  an  effective  and  con 
vincing  address ;  as  he  always  did  when  he  had  a 
good  cause  to  support.  He  had  just  returned  from 
Washington,  where  he  had  delivered  the  one  great 
oration  of  his  life,  in  vindication  of  his  colleague ; 
and  now  he  reviewed  the  condition  of  affairs  in 
Kansas  fresh  from  the  arguments  and  debates  of 
the  United  States  Senate.  He  was  ably  supported 

116 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

by  Rev.  Edward  E.  Hale,  who  was  one  of  the  ear 
liest  public  men  to  recognize  the  national  character 
of  the  Kansas  conflict.  Rev.  Mr.  Nute  and  Charles 
H.  Branscomb,  of  Kansas,  were  on  hand  to  testify 
in  regard  to  the  outrages  of  the  Missouri  ruffians. 

It  was  eminently  a  political  meeting,  and  a  con 
servative  one.  No  abolitionists  like  Wendell  Phil 
lips  or  Theodore  Parker  were  permitted  to  speak. 
Hon.  Samuel  H.  Walley,  who  offered  the  resolu 
tions  to  the  meeting,  was  as  conservative  as  Edward 
Everett,  but  his  conservatism  was  of  a  different 
quality.  The  only  one  of  Sumner's  friends  who 
appeared  prominently  on  this  occasion  was  Dr.  S. 
G.  Howe,  and  his  name  was  the  last  one  on  the  com 
mittee  to  raise  funds  in  aid  of  the  Kansas  sufferers. 
We  find  also  on  this  committee  the  names  of  Pat 
rick  T.  Jackson,  Hon.  John  A.  Lowell,  and  Dr.  J. 
Ingersoll  Bowditch. 

It  was  much  better  for  the  purpose  in  hand  that 
this  should  have  been  so;  for  it  placed  the  object 
of  the  convention  before  the  public  in  a  more  impar 
tial  light  than  if  the  names  of  professional  refor 
mers  had  been  connected  with  it.  George  L. 
Stearns  was  on  the  floor  of  the  hall,  but  the  man 
who  was  to  prove  the  strong  leader  of  this  move 
ment  and  carry  it  to  a  final  issue,  attracted  no  atten 
tion,  except  perhaps  for  his  long  beard  and  deter 
mined  expression. 

The  resolutions  were  cool  and  deliberate.  Party 
politics  were  avoided  and  no  reference  was  made 
to  the  assault  on  Sumner,  although  that  was  felt  as 
an  undercurrent,  throughout  the  proceedings,  which 
gave  great  strength  to  the  cause. 

117 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

The  committee  on  funds  were  pledged  to  make 
use  of  them  for  purely  legal  purposes;  but  what 
were  legal  purposes  in  Kansas  ?  There  was  practi 
cally  no  law  there  at  this  time,  except  the  moral 
law — what  William  H.  Seward  had  lately  called  the 
"  higher  law." 

Chevalier  Howe  was  the  invigorating  spirit  of 
this  first  committee.  At  his  memorial  services  in 
1876,  Colonel  T.  W.  Higginson  said:  "  No  one  in 
the  Eastern  states,  excepting  George  L.  Stearns, 
accomplished  so  much  to  secure  free  institutions 
for  Kansas  as  Samuel  G.  Howe." 

When  Mr.  Stearns  was  called  upon,  he  not  only 
gave  liberally,  but  offered  his  services  to  make 
collections.  It  was  soon  found  that  he  was  the 
best  man  in  Boston  to  obtain  subscriptions  for  any 
good  purpose,  and  a  vacancy  soon  occurring  on  the 
committee,  he  was  chosen  to  fill  the  place.  By  the 
last  of  June  about  ten  thousand  dollars  had  been 
subscribed,  and  the  rich  men  declared  that  they 
could  give  no  more.  Mr.  Stearns  did  not  consider 
this  enough,  and  advised  a  plan  which  afterwards 
secured  a  much  larger  contribution. 

In  almost  every  city  and  town  in  New  England 
there  was  a  plumber  or  tinman  who  made  pur 
chases  of  Mr.  Stearns  once  or  twice  a  year.  This 
gave  him  a  kind  of  agency  throughout  Massachusetts 
and  portions  of  the  other  New  England  states,  and 
it  occurred  to  him  that  through  the  information  he 
could  obtain  from  the  shop-keepers,  as  well  as  other 
sources,  he  might  establish  a  bureau  for  obtaining 
contributions  for  Kansas  which  would  bring  within 
its  scope  the  larger  portion  of  the  population. 

1x8 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Kansas  Aid  committees  already  existed  in  Con 
cord,  Worcester,  and  many  other  places,  but  having 
accomplished  something,  they  had  already  begun 
to  feel  that  they  had  done  enough.  When  Mr. 
Stearns  proposed  his  plan  to  the  Boston  committee 
he  concluded  by  saying:  "If  we  cannot  obtain 
money  from  the  rich,  we  must  apply  to  those  who 
are  not  rich.  If  every  Republican  voter  would  give 
us  a  quarter,  we  could  raise  a  hundred  thousand 
dollars."  At  this  time  the  large  majority  of 
wealthy  men  throughout  the  United  States  were 
pro-slavery. 

The  committee  not  only  agreed  to  his  plan,  but 
concluded  that  he  was  the  best  man  to  carry  it  out. 
He  was  accordingly  elected  chairman,  a  position 
which  he  held  until  the  work  of  the  committee  came 
to  an  end  in  1858.  In  his  testimony,  before  the 
Harper's  Ferry  investigating  committee  of  the 
United  States  Senate,  Mr.  Stearns  said : 

"  In  the  spring  of  1856  I  went  to  the  Boston 
committee  for  the  relief  of  sufferers  in  Kansas,  and 
offered  my  services.  I  worked  for  them  until  June 
of  that  year ;  and  then  being  willing  to  devote  all 
my  time  to  the  cause,  I  was  made  chairman  of  the 
Kansas  State  Committee,  of  Massachusetts,  which 
took  the  place  of  the  first-named  committee,  and 
continued  the  work  throughout  the  state.  In  five 
months,  including  August  and  December  of  that 
year  (1856),  I  raised,  through  my  agents,  about 
$48,000  in  money ;  and  in  the  same  time  the  ladies 
in  different  towns  and  cities  commenced  the  for 
mation  of  societies  for  contributions  of  clothing, 
which  resulted  in  sending  from  $20,000  to  $30,000 

119 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

more,  in  supplies  of  various  kinds.  In  January, 
1857,  our  work  was  stopped,  by  advices  from  Kan 
sas  that  no  more  contributions  were  needed  except 
for  defence.  If  we  had  not  been  thus  stopped, 
our  arrangements  then  made  would  have  enabled 
us  to  have  collected  $100,000  in  the  next  six 
months." 

Meanwhile  Mr.  Stearns'  Tokay  was  doing 
Charles  Sumner  good.  On  June  10,  George 
Sumner,  who  was  taking  care  of  his  brother  in 
Washington,  wrote  to  Dr.  Perry  a  letter  in  which 
he  said : 

"At  this  juncture  the  Tokay  arrived,  and,  spite  of  fever, 
was  sipped  upon.  Whether  it  was  that  or  the  opiate  given, 
or  the  cheering  words  of  Mrs.  Stearns'  note  (which  I  now 
return),  certain  it  is  that  one  or  all  of  these  causes  worked 
a  marvellous  change,  and  this  morning  his  fever  has  gone, 
and  he,  though  weak,  is  bright  as  ever. 

"This  P.  M.  we  shall  make  another  attempt  at  a  short 
drive,  and  in  a  few. days  I  hope  he  may  be  strong  enough 
to  go  to  Mr.  Blair's  country  house,  seven  miles  out." 

Dr.  Marshall  S.  Perry  was  attending  Mrs. 
Stearns  at  this  time  for  sciatic  neuralgia,  and  he 
brought  this  letter  to  Mr.  Stearns  on  his  next 
visit. 

Not  much  could  be  done  for  Kansas  in  the  hot 
weather,  however,  for  too  many  people  were  away 
from  their  homes.  The  Hoppers  came  for  their 
annual  visit,  and  then  the  whole  party  went  to 
Beverly  Farms,  where  they  could  be  near  the  King 
family.  John  Hopper  was  a  wonderful  swimmer, 
and  entertained  them  greatly  with  his  jests  and 
aquatic  gambols;  and  there  was  great  hurrahing 

120 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

for  Fremont  and  Dayton,  who  had  been  nominated 
by  the  newly  formed  Republican  party;  but  Mr. 
Stearns  did  not  altogether  like  it.  He  regretted 
the  nomination  of  Fremont  as  a  show-figure  man, 
who  was  surrounded  by  Western  adventurers ;  and 
he  was  afterward  heard  to  say  that  there  was  no 
telling  what  people  had  to  suffer  in  search  of  pleas 
ure  at  the  seashore.  In  fact,  he  was  never  at  rest 
except  when  he  was  under  his  own  roof,  and  when 
he  was  away  from  home  he  wanted  to  travel  con 
tinuously. 

When  September  came  he  again  threw  himself 
into  the  work  with  boundless  ardor.  How  well  I 
remember  those  autumn  evenings,  when  we 
watched  for  his  coming,  and  guessed  at  the  train 
in  which  he  would  arrive !  He  was  away  again  at 
seven  in  the  morning,  and  often  gone  for  three  or 
four  days. 

The  committee  occupied  rooms  in  the  Niles 
Block,  School  Street,  Boston,  and  in  their  letter- 
book  of  nearly  two  hundred  pages,  three-fourths 
of  the  letters  are  in  his  own  hand;  nor  was  this 
the  whole.  On  the  accounts  of  the  committee  now 
preserved  in  the  State  Historical  Society  of  Kan 
sas,  more  than  a  hundred  and  sixty  towns  and 
cities  are  represented.  He  obtained  the  names  of 
influential  citizens  in  many  places  of  which  the 
committee  had  never  heard,  and  succeeded  in  or 
ganizing  Kansas  Aid  societies  in  them.  The 
contributions  in  clothing  nearly  equalled  in  value 
the  cash  that  was  received.  His  letters  are  models 
of  clear,  concise,  direct  English, — much  better  in 
style  than  some  of  our  histories. 

121 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

The  following  tells  its  own  story : 

"  STATE  KANSAS  ROOMS,  BOSTON, 

"  September  10,  1856. 
"DEAR  SIR: 

"  Yours  of  the   ist.   inst.  is  at  hand,  and  in  reply  I  can 
assure  you  that  Mr.  Conway  will  be  with  you  on  Wednesday 
evening  next,   without  fail;   and  I   trust  that  you   may   be 
able  to  raise  a  generous  sum,  as  everything  depends  on  the 
settlers   now  in  Kansas  being  sustained. 
"  Truly  yours, 
**  REV.  G.  F.  CLARKE,  "  GEORGE  L.  STEARNS, 

"  NORTON."  "  Chairman. 

And  this  letter  also : 

"  STATE  KANSAS  ROOMS,  BOSTON, 

"  September  15,  1856. 
"DEAR  SIR: 

"  We  are  about  to  take  up  a  subscription  for  Kansas  in 
our  state,  under  circumstances  that  will  insure  a  large 
amount,  and  we  want  you  to  give  us  the  next  week  from 
Tuesday  23d  to  Friday  26th.  On  one  of  those  days  we 
intend  to  have  a  mass-meeting  of  New  England  at  Boston. 
Do  not  refuse  us  if  you  can  possibly  come.  If  you  can  give 
us  but  one  day,  say  which  one,  but  give  us  as  many  as  you 
can.  Please  answer  by  telegraph  as  well  as  by  letter. 
"  Truly  yours, 

"  GEORGE  L.  STEARNS, 

"  Chairman," 

Governor  Reeder,  as  a  conscientious  apostate 
from  the  Democratic  party,  was  a  trump-card  for 
Mr.  Stearns'  purposes,  and  Martin  F.  Conway  was 
a  young  and  effective  speaker,  and  deserves  a  more 
lengthy  consideration  than  we  have  space  to  give 
him.  He  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  of  the  band 

122 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

of  reformers  with  whom  Mr.  Stearns  was  associ 
ated,  but  much  too  fragile  physically  for  the  part 
in  life  which  destiny  had  assigned  him.  He  was 
born  in  Baltimore,  and,  like  John  Brown,  conceived 
a  horror  of  slavery  in  his  boyhood  from  seeing  the 
brutal  manner  in  which  unoffending  negroes  were 
treated.  His  refined  and  sensitive  nature  rebelled 
against  injustice  of  any  kind.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-one  he  studied  law,  philosophy,  and  gov 
ernment.  He  read  Plato,  Aristotle,  Locke,  and 
Alexander  Hamilton.  He  succeeded  well  as  a  young 
practitioner,  but  in  1855  he  decided  to  emigrate  to 
Kansas  and  try  his  fortunes  with  the  Free-soil  party 
there.  In  the  autumn  of  that  year,  when  the  Mis- 
sourians  elected  a  bogus  judiciary,  the  Free-state 
men  chose  Conway  for  their  chief  justice.  Judge 
Conway  became  an  intimate  friend  of  Mr.  Stearns 
and  a  frequent  guest  at  his  house.  With  his  south 
ern  extraction  and  fresh  Kansas  experience  he  was 
just  the  best  man  Mr.  Stearns  could  have  ob 
tained  to  canvass  the  small  cities  and  towns. 
We  find  from  the  accounts  of  the  committee  that 
Judge  Conway  was  paid  various  sums  amounting 
to  over  a  thousand  dollars  from  the  Kansas  Aid 
fund  for  his  services  and  travelling  expenses. 

About  the  first  of  October,  Mr.  Stearns  thought 
he  could  accomplish  something  in  New  York  City, 
and  went  to  Theodore  Parker  for  a  letter  of  intro 
duction  to  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  This  he  obtained 
readily  enough,  but  was  rather  surprised  after 
wards,  on  reading  the  contents,  which  ran  simply 
thus, — "  Allow  me  to  introduce  to  you  my  friend 


123 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

George  L.  Stearns,  a  merchant  of  Boston  and  one 
of  the  noblest  men  in  it."* 

When  he  came  to  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher's 
house  in  Brooklyn,  Mr.  Stearns  found  a  dozen  or 
fifteen  people  seated  in  the  waiting-room.  Pres 
ently  Mr.  Beecher  came  in  and  went  to  them  in  suc 
cession,  disposing  of  them  pretty  quickly.  To  a 
man  from  Stamford,  Connecticut,  who  wanted  to 
engage  him  to  lecture,  Mr.  Beecher  replied :  "  I 
lecture  for  fame,  fifty,  and  my  expenses."  When 
he  came  to  Mr.  Stearns,  he  read  Parker's  letter  and 
extended  his  hand  cordially,  saying :  "  I  have  heard 
of  your  work,  sir,  and  shall  be  very  glad  indeed 
to  assist  you.  Would  it  be  convenient  for  you  to 
call  on  me  this  evening?  "  With  the  assistance  of 
Mr.  Beecher  and  Mrs.  James  Gibbons,  the  philan 
thropic  sister  of  John  Hopper,  Mr.  Stearns'  expe 
dition  proved  satisfactory  and  profitable. 

The  last  of  October  Sumner  returned  to  Boston, 
and  was  accorded  a  triumphal  procession,  with  the 
finest  cavalcade  of  young  Republicans  that  Beacon 
Street  ever  witnessed.  The  blinds  of  Beacon 
Street  windows  were  mostly  closed,  but  this  only 
added  distinction  to  the  occasion;  for  it  replaced 
the  captives  in  the  triumphal  processions  of  Rome. 

Mr.  Stearns  did  not  ride  in  the  procession  on 
account  of  the  ladies,  but  he  arranged  with  his  wife 

*  When  Mr.  Stearns'  son  went  to  Europe  in  1869,  George 
S.  Hillard  gave  him  a  number  of  letters  of  introduction, 
in  one  of  which  he  spoke  of  George  L.  Stearns  as  "  one 
of  the  noblest  men  that  ever  lived."  Two  men  could  not 
be  much  further  apart  than  Parker  and  Hillard. 

124 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

and  Miss  King  to  meet  him  with  the  carriage  at 
the  Niles  Block.  While  they  were  waiting  at  the 
door,  George  S.  Hillard  suddenly  appeared  coming 
down  the  sidewalk.  "  How  do  you  do,  Mr.  Hil 
lard,"  said  Mrs.  Stearns ;  "  you  are  going  the 
wrong  way."  "  Where  is  your  horse,  Mr.  Hil 
lard  ?  "  said  Miss  King.  Mr.  Hillard  bowed,  and 
said  as  he  walked  off:  "A  horse,  a  horse,  my 
kingdom  for  a  horse !  " 

They  obtained  a  position  close  by  the  State- 
house  to  view  the  procession.  When  Sumner's 
carriage  reached  there  the  band  played,  "  Home, 
Sweet  Home."  Mr.  Sumner  looked  pale  and 
weary,  but  he  recognized  Mr.  Stearns  and  doffed 
his  hat  to  the  ladies. 

The  evening  after  Fremont's  defeat,  there  was 
a  sort  of  funereal  tea-party  at  Mr.  Stearns'  house, 
at  which  David  L.  Child,  Mrs.  L.  Maria  Child, 
the  Kings,  Miss  Susan  Hale,  and  other  friends 
were  present.  Miss  Augusta  said :  "  If  we 
only  had  an  educational  suffrage,  Fremont  would 
have  been  elected."  "Yes,"  said  David  Lee 
Child;  "so  would  Henry  Clay  in  1844;  and  the 
Mexican  War  would  have  been  prevented."  Mr. 
Stearns,  however,  did  not  like  to  give  up  universal 
suffrage.  He  believed  that  every  man  had  a  nat 
ural  right  to  vote.  He  felt  very  hopeful  in  regard 
to  the  future  of  the  Republican  party.  Mrs.  Child 
remarked  that  her  husband  wanted  to  go  to  Kansas 
to  fight,  and  that  it  was  all  she  could  do  to  keep 
him  at  home. 

About  the  middle  of  December  the  Kansas  Aid 
Committee  received  an  accession  of  vital  force  in 

125 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

the  person  of  Frank  B.  Sanborn,  one  of  the  boldest 
and  most  disinterested  of  the  anti-slavery  leaders. 
A  son  of  the  old  Granite  State,  he  had  been  strongly 
impressed  while  at  Harvard  College  with  the  phil 
osophy  of  Emerson,  to  which  he  was  now  intent  on 
giving  a  practical  application.  He  was  teaching 
a  private  school  in  Concord,  which  had  been  estab 
lished  by  Judge  Hoar  for  the  more  aristocratic 
portion  of  that  community,  and  had  served  on  a 
local  Kansas  Aid  committee.  He  now  offered  his 
services  to  the  Massachusetts  committee  gratui 
tously  for  the  winter,  leaving  his  school  in  charge 
of  a  friend.  He  was  chosen  secretary,  and  from 
this  time  his  handwriting  largely  replaces  that  of 
Mr.  Stearns  in  the  letter-book.  He  and  Mr. 
Stearns  became  warm  friends;  and  a  more  faith 
ful,  helpful  friend  than  Mr.  Sanborn  could  not  be 
found  anywhere. 

After  Mr.  Stearns  became  chairman  of  the  com 
mittee,  about  thirty-eight  thousand  dollars  were 
collected  by  it;  and  the  contributions  in  clothing 
and  other  materials  were  estimated  worth  from 
twenty  to  thirty  thousand.  Of  this  amount  New 
Hampshire  contributed  $933-94,  and  Maine 
$785.37,  while  friends  in  Great  Britain  forwarded 
five  hundred  dollars.  In  the  accounts  we  find  the 
significant  entry  of  four  thousand  dollars  expended 
for  Sharpe's  rifles.  In  his  testimony  before  the 
Harper's  Ferry  investigating  committee,  Mr. 
Stearns  said: 

"  Soon  after  our  State  committee  had  commenced  work 
— I  think  in  August,  1856 — a  messenger  from  Kansas,  who 
came  through  Iowa  (for  the  Missouri  River  was  then  closed 

126 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

by  the  Missourians  to  all  Free-state  travellers),  came  to  us 
asking  earnestly  for  arms  and  ammunition  for  defence  of 
the  Free-state  party.  Our  committee  met  the  next  day, 
and  immediately  voted  to  send  two  hundred  Sharpe's 
rifles,  and  the  necessary  quantity  of  ammunition — which 
was  procured  and  sent  to  the  National  Kansas  Committee 
at  Chicago,  to  be  by  them  forwarded  through  Iowa  to 
Kansas.  From  some  cause,  which  I  have  never  heard  ex 
plained,  these  arms  were  delayed  in  Iowa;  and  in  Novem 
ber  or  December  of  that  year  we  directed  an  agent  to  pro 
ceed  to  Iowa  at  our  charge,  and  take  possession  of  them 
as  our  property." 

A  landscape  painter  once  said  that  he  never  could 
tell  whether  stones  were  more  round  or  square; 
and  so  it  is  as  difficult  to  determine  whether  Mr. 
Stearns7  committee  was  the  same  as  the  Faneuil 
Hall  committee,  for  its  membership  was  continually 
changing;  but  there  is  sufficient  evidence  that  these 
rifles  were  purchased  purely  for  defensive  opera 
tions.  The  following  spring  Mr.  Stearns  wrote  to 
Judge  Conway:  "Do  not  fire  until  the  enemy 
fires." 

After  Sumner's  reelection  in  January,  1857,  he 
was  sworn  in  to  the  Senate  and  then  went  to 
Europe,  where  Dr.  Brown-Sequard  effected  a 
memorable  cure  upon  him,  while  his  vacant  chair 
was  more  eloquent  than  the  finest  oratory.  As  we 
now  take  leave  of  him  for  some  years,  it  is  only 
just  to  mention  the  hostility  of  William  Lloyd 
Garrison  and  some  of  his  friends  toward  Sumner. 
This  first  became  publicly  apparent  in  Garrison's  im 
prudent  letter,  during  the  political  campaign  of 
1872;  but,  it  was  an  open  secret  among  the  anti- 
slavery  people  of  Boston  for  many  years  before 

127 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

that.  In  May,  1857,  Mrs.  L.  Maria  Child  was 
invited  by  Mrs.  Maria  Chapman  to  stay  at  her 
house  during  the  anniversaries;  but  at  their  very 
first  lunch  Mrs.  Chapman  so  berated  Charles  Sum- 
ner  for  "  degrading  the  antislavery  cause  by  drag 
ging  it  into  the  arena  of  practical  politics,"  that 
Mrs.  Child  took  leave  as  politely  as  she  could,  and 
went  out  to  visit  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stearns  in  a  white 
heat  of  indignation.  The  strong  good  sense  of 
Mrs.  Child's  nature  rebelled  against  such  narrow- 
minded  pedantry,  and  she  expressed  herself  on  the 
subject  without  reserve.  She  sometimes  wrote  to 
Sumner,  and  he  said  of  one  of  her  letters,  that  it 
was  worth  being  knocked  on  the  head  to  meet  with 
such  genuine  appreciation. 

Mrs.  Stearns  always  attended  the  antislavery 
fairs  at  Christmas  time,  and  her  husband  generally 
went  with  her.  There  they  would  see  Mrs.  L. 
Maria  Child  with  her  ferret-eyes,  seated  behind  a 
table  of  attractive  knick-knacks,  and  Mrs.  Maria 
Chapman,  similarly  ensconced,  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  room.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stearns  made  hand 
some  purchases,  but  their  refined  taste  objected 
to  the  women  in  bloomer  costumes  and  other 
peculiar-looking  persons,  who  attached  themselves 
to  this  branch  of  the  movement. 


128 


VIII 
JOHN  BROWN 

GEORGE  L.  STEARNS  had  been  influenced  in  his 
life  thus  far  by  a  number  of  excellent  men,  who 
formed  as  it  were  an  ascending  series  from  Dr. 
David  Osgood  to  Emerson  and  Sumner,  and  it 
seemed  as  if  stronger  characters  than  these  he 
would  not  be  likely  to  meet  with ;  and  yet  he  now 
came  in  contact  with  a  man  who  influenced  him 
more  powerfully  than  either  Sumner  or  Emerson — 
the  plain  Western  sheep-farmer,  John  Brown,  of 
Ossawatomie.  They  met  like  the  iron  and  the 
magnet.  Each  recognized  the  other  at  first  sight, 
and  knew  him  for  what  he  was  worth. 

John  Brown  was  a  Cromwellian  Ironside  intro 
duced  in  the  nineteenth  century  for  a  special  pur 
pose.  He  looked  at  the  world  with  the  eyes  of  a 
Puritan  of  the  Long  Parliament,  and  judged  it 
accordingly.  His  ideas  of  morality,  private  and 
public,  were  not  relative  but  absolute.  It  was  his 
mission  to  take  up  the  work  of  the  English  Puritans 
where  it  had  ended  with  the  death  of  Cromwell — 
the  work  of  social  regeneration.  He  was  essen 
tially  an  idealist;  a  much  abused  word,  too  often 
applied  to  visionary  and  unpractical  persons.  Yet, 
in  John  Brown's  mind  everything  took  a  practical 
and  concrete  form.  George  L.  Stearns  was  also 
an  idealist,  and  yet  he  was  considered  one  of  the 
most  practical  business  men  in  Boston.  He  was 
9  129 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

not  a  thinker  but  an  actor.  He  had  his  successes 
and  his  failures;  so  did  John  Brown.  The  most 
practical  man  may  fail  at  last. 

John  Brown  was  a  successful  sheep-farmer,  and 
was  considered  a  trustworthy  and  judicious  person, 
not  only  by  his  neighbors,  but  generally  by  the 
wool-growers  of  Ohio.  Otherwise  they  would  not 
have  selected  him  for  their  agent  in  the  Springfield 
experiment.  Any  other  man  might  have  failed  in 
that  enterprise  who  had  not  been  trained  in  the 
methods  of  the  commission  business;  but  in  that 
particular  instance  there  was  a  better  reason  for  it. 
If  Brown  had  succeeded  at  Springfield  he  would 
have  revolutionized  the  wool  business  in  New 
England.  All  the  wool-growers  would  have  sent 
their  produce  to  him :  and  the  consequence  was  that 
the  wool  merchants  all  combined  against  him  for 
their  own  security.  His  previous  failure  in  an 
Ohio  land  scheme  was  due  to  Henry  Clay's  sliding- 
scale  tariff,  which  not  only  injured  the  wool  trade 
but  prevented  immigration.  His  victory  at  Black 
Jack,  however,  was  as  brilliant  an  affair  as  the 
Concord  fight  in  1 775  ;  and  at  the  subsequent  battle 
of  Ossawatomie  he  inflicted  such  severe  loss  on  the 
Missourians  that  they  never  invaded  that  section 
of  Kansas  again. 

The  state  of  mind  in  which  John  Brown  returned 
from  the  burning  of  Lawrence  may  well  be  imag 
ined  ;  and  that  night  it  was  decided  that  the  Doyles 
and  Shermans  should  be  lynched  in  return  for  the 
depredations  of  the  border  ruffians,  and  in  retalia 
tion  for  the  various  murders  that  had  been  com 
mitted  by  the  pro-slavery  party  in  Kansas. 

130 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Von  Hoist  refers  to  the  Pottawatomie  affair  as 
a  case  of  somewhat  irregular  lynch  law.*  In  char 
acter  the  act  resembles  Napoleon's  execution  of  the 
Duke  d'Enghien,  which  his  enemies  have  always 
made  the  most  of,  and  which  has  been  feebly 
defended  by  his  admirers.  The  best  that  one  can 
say  of  it  is  that  the  Free-state  men  at  Ossawatomie 
felt  that  they  and  their  families  could  not  be  safe 
so  long  as  the  Doyles  and  Shermans  remained 
where  they  were.  John  Brown  himself  said  of  it, 
that  it  was  "  a  fearful  thing  to  do,  but  necessary  to 
be  done."  Five  Free-state  men  had  been  killed, 
and  there  was  no  way  of  bringing  their  assassins 
to  justice.  There  is  a  point — the  boiling-point  of 
the  blood — beyond  which  human  nature  cannot 
endure. 

Although  John  Brown's  complicity  with  the  Pot 
tawatomie  affair  was  generally  believed  in  Kansas, 
it  did  not  prevent  Lane,  Robinson,  Conway,  and 
other  political  leaders  of  the  state  from  keeping  up 
friendly  relations  with  him.  Martin  F.  Conway, 
in  particular,  the  first  representative  to  Congress 
from  Kansas,  always  supported  John  Brown  in  a 
general  way. 

The  little  victories  of  Black  Jack  and  Ossawa 
tomie  eclipsed  this  dark  episode  for  the  time  being, 
and  made  Brown  quite  a  hero  in  the  Northern 
states.  The  Missourians,  in  order  to  cover  their 
disgrace  in  being  defeated  by  an  inferior  force, 
circulated  a  report  that  Captain  Brown  had  been 
killed  at  Ossawatomie,  and  when  this  was  contra- 

*  Essay  on  John  Brown  in  the  Prussian   Year-Book. 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

dieted  Governor  Robinson  wrote  him  a  congratu 
latory  letter,  in  which  he  said : 

"  Your  course,  so  far  as  I  have  been  informed,  has  been 
such  as  to  merit  the  highest  praise  from  every  patriot, 
and  I  cheerfully  accord  to  you  my  heartfelt  thanks  for 
your  prompt,  efficient,  and  timely  action  against  the  invaders 
of  our  rights  and  the  murderers  of  our  citizens.  History 
will  give  your  name  a  proud  place  on  her  pages,  and 
posterity  will  pay  homage  to  your  heroism  in  the  cause  of 
God  and  humanity."  * 

The  difference  between  this  statement  and  Rob 
inson's  opinion  twenty  years  later  simply  indicates 
the  difference  between  public  sentiment  in  a  revolu 
tionary  period  and  that  in  the  reactionary  period 
which  invariably  follows  it. 

George  L.  Stearns  hailed  the  fight  at  Black  Jack 
as  the  turn  of  the  tide  in  Kansas  affairs.  Mrs. 
Stearns  always  insisted  that  her  husband  wrote 
either  to  Robinson  or  to  Edward  Clark,  the  agent  of 
his  committee  in  Kansas,  desiring  that  John  Brown 
should  come  to  Boston  and  consult  with  him ;  and 
this  is  probably  true,  for  it  would  explain  Robin 
son's  anxiety  that  Brown  should  remain  in  Kansas, 
as  expressed  in  the  letter  of  September  I4th,  above 
referred  to.  We  find  that  Brown  was  in  Chicago 
during  the  last  week  of  October,  but  did  not  reach 
Boston  until  early  in  January. 

Mr.  Stearns  had  heard  of  the  Pottawatomie 
affair,  but  he  never  so  long  as  he  lived  was  aware 
of  John  Brown's  connection  with  it.  In  his  testi 
mony  before  the  Harper's  Ferry  committee  he 

*  Sanborn's  John  Brown,  p.  330. 
132 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

said:  "  Early  in  January,  1857,  John  Brown,  of 
whom  I  had  heard  but  had  not  seen,  came  to  Bos 
ton  and  was  introduced  to  me  by  one  of  our  Kan 
sas  agents;  and  after  repeated  conferences  with 
him,  being  strongly  impressed  with  his  sagacity, 
courage,  and  strong  integrity,  I,  through  a  vote 
of  our  committee,  made  him  our  agent  to  receive 
and  hold  these  arms  and  the  ammunition  for  the 
defence  of  Kansas,  appropriating  $500  to  pay  his 
expenses." 

Mr.  Stearns  invited  Captain  Brown  to  take  din 
ner  with  him  the  second  Sunday  in  January,  1857, 
so  that  they  might  talk  over  Kansas  affairs  at  their 
leisure;  and  at  the  table  he  was  asked  to  give  an 
account  of  the  fight  at  Black  Jack,  which  he  did, 
with  a  grim  kind  of  humor  very  becoming  to  him. 
Mr.  Stearns  asked  him  what  sort  of  a  noise  a 
Sharpe's  rifle  bullet  made,  and  he  replied :  "  It 
makes  a  very  ugly  noise,  Mr.  Stearns."  Then 
Miss  Augusta  King  said :  "  We  read  a  good  deal 
in  the  newspapers  about  General  Pomeroy,  who 
seems  to  be  an  important  man  in  Kansas.  Is  he 
a  very  good  general  ?  " 

John  Brown  laughed  silently  and  replied :  "  I 
wish  the  ladies  of  Massachusetts  would  make  a 
large  military  cocked  hat,  about  three  feet  in  length, 
and  a  foot  and  a  half  in  height;  and  put  the  tail- 
feathers  of  three  roosters  in  it,  and  send  it  with 
their  compliments  to  General  Pomeroy."  Then  he 
added :  "  As  a  rule,  Miss  King,  the  higher  the 
officer  the  less  of  a  soldier.  Now  I  am  but  a  plain 
captain,  and  yet  I  am  always  ready  to  fight  the 
enemy.  Jim  Lane  is  a  colonel,  but  I  have  no  doubt 

133 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

he  would  fight  if  Governor  Robinson  would  let  him. 
Pomeroy  is  a  general,  and  there  is  no  fight  in  him 
at  all."  Miss  King  was  delighted  with  John 
Brown's  wit  and  sagacity. 

After  dinner  Mr.  Stearns'  eldest  son,  twelve 
years  old,  went  to  him  and  said  very  innocently: 
"  Captain  Brown,  I  wish  you  would  tell  me  about 
your  boyhood."  This  made  everybody  laugh,  and 
the  Captain  said  in  his  kindliest  manner :  "  My  son, 
I  cannot  do  that  now,  for  I  fear  it  would  weary 
the  ladies,  but  when  I  have  time  I  will  try  to  write 
something  for  you  on  that  subject."  Accordingly, 
about  six  weeks  later  a  long  letter  came  directed  to 
Henry  L.  Stearns,  whom  he  addressed  as  "  My  dear 
young  friend."  It  has  since  been  published  in  all 
the  biographies  of  John  Brown,  and  was  referred 
to  by  James  Russell  Lowell  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly 
as  the  finest  bit  of  autobiography  of  the  nineteenth 
century.* 

One  of  Mr.  Stearns'  objects  in  wishing  to  see 
John  Brown  was  to  obtain  more  definite  informa 
tion  concerning  prominent  Kansas  men,  and  he  was 
not  mistaken  in  believing  that  Brown  could  give 
him  this.  The  Captain  seemed  to  have  very  clear 
ideas  in  regard  to  Lane,  Robinson,  and  others,  and 
described  them  like  a  student  of  human  nature. 
He  spoke  of  James  Montgomery  in  high  terms,  as  a 
sound  character,  perfectly  honest,  fearless,  cool- 


*John  Brown  was  quite  right  in  regard  to  the  character 
of  this  boy,  who  was  as  magnanimous  as  his  father,  and  for 
more  than  twenty  years  the  mainstay  of  his  mother's 
household. 

134 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

headed,  and  equal  to  any  emergency.  Jennison 
and  Preacher  Stewart  were  also  brave  men,  but  not 
so  trustworthy.  Martin  F.  Conway  he  considered 
the  best  of  the  political  leaders,  but  not  a  man  of 
sufficient  force  for  the  rough  work  in  Kansas. 
Mr.  Stearns  afterward  found  these  estimates  to 
be  quite  correct.  "  Kansas  is  a  wild  place,  Mr. 
Stearns,"  said  the  Captain,  "  and  people  do  not 
live  there  as  they  do  here  in  your  town  of  Med- 
ford.  " 

Mr.  Stearns  had  hoped  to  obtain  an  appropria 
tion  from  the  Legislature  to  assist  John  Brown  in 
the  defence  of  Kansas;  but  large  bodies  of  men 
act  more  from  instinct  than  reason,  and  are  prover 
bially  short-sighted.  If  Atchison  and  his  guerillas 
had  been  at  the  gates  of  Lawrence  it  is  probable 
that  the  honorable  senators  and  representatives 
would  have  taken  efficient  measures  for  its  relief, 
but  as  there  was  no  immediate  apprehension 
of  danger,  and  as  it  was  hoped  that  Buchanan's 
administration  would  introduce  a  change  of 
policy,  after  a  great  deal  of  patriotic  speech- 
making  they  decided  not  to  grant  the  appropri 
ation. 

Mr.  Stearns  had  been  more  successful  in  New 
York,  where  the  National  Kansas  Committee 
agreed  to  transfer  to  him  for  John  Brown's  benefit 
a  considerable  number  of  rifles  which  were  stored 
at  Tabor,  Iowa.  On  March  4th  Brown  inserted  a 
letter  in  the  New  York  Tribune,  explaining  his 
purposes  and  requesting  assistance  by  means  of  local 
fairs,  collections  in  churches,  and  the  like.  He 
did  not  obtain  much  in  this  manner.  Amos  A. 

i3S 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

Lawrence  sent  him  seventy  dollars  with  a  compli 
mentary  letter — a  small  sum  for  Mr.  Lawrence  to 
give.  Mr.  Stearns  foresaw  that  the  main  support 
of  John  Brown's  scheme  would  come  upon  himself, 
and  he  prepared  his  mind  for  this. 

Brown  was  now  in  the  service  of  humanity,  but 
he  was  a  public  servant  without  a  salary.  His 
family  had  to  be  supported,  and  the  means  for  this 
could  not  properly  be  drawn  from  the  funds  of  the 
Kansas  Aid  Committee.  Gerrit  Smith  proposed  to 
purchase  a  piece  of  land,  with  a  small  house,  at 
North  Elba,  in  the  Adirondack  Mountains,  which 
could  serve  as  a  retreat  for  Brown  himself,  if  too 
hard  pressed  by  his  enemies.  George  L.  Stearns 
and  Amos  A.  Lawrence  raised  a  subscription  for 
this  purpose,  as  appears  by  the  following  letter : 

"  BOSTON,  April  29,  '57. 
"  MR.  JOHN  BROWN, 

"  DEAR  SIR  : — Your  letters  to  Mr.  Sanborn,  Mr.  Foster, 
and  myself  are  before  me. 

"  Mr.  Lawrence  has  agreed  with  me,  that  the  $1000  shall 
be  made  up,  and  will  write  to  Gerrit  Smith  to-day  or  to 
morrow  to  say  that  he  can  depend  on  the  money  from  him. 
"  After  you  see  Mr.  Smith  write  me  again  if  the  arrange 
ment  is  not  satisfactory  to  you. 
"  I  will  write  you  about  other  matters  to-morrow. 
"  Truly  your  friend, 

"  GEORGE  L.  STEARNS/' 

We  find  on  the  subscription  paper  that  Mr. 
Stearns  contributed  one-fourth  of  this  sum,  and 
Mr.  Lawrence  nearly  one-third.  Wendell  Phillips 
and  Captain  Bertram,  of  Salem,  are  among  the 
other  names  on  the  paper. 

136 


FRANK   B.  SANBORN 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

After  all  arrangements  had  been  completed  John 
Brown  expressed  his  gratitude  in  the  following 
letter  to  Mr.  Sanborn : 

"TABOR,  FREMONT  Co.,  IOWA, 
"  MY  DEAR  FRIEND  :  27,  Aug.,  1857. 

"  Your  most  welcome  letter  of  the  I4th  inst,  from  Salt 
Forkes,  is  received.  I  cannot  express  the  gratitude  I  feel 
to  all  the  kind  friends  who  contributed  towards  paying 
for  the  place  at  North  Elba  after  I  had  bought  it,  as  I 
am  thereby  relieved  from  a  very  great  embarrassment, 
both  with  Mr.  Smith  and  the  young  Thompsons;  and  also 
comforted  with  the  feeling  that  my  whole-hearted  wife  and 
daughters  will  not  be  driven  either  to  beg,  or  become  a 
burden  to  my  poor  Boys,  who  have  nothing  but  their  hands 
to  begin  life  with.  I  am  under  special  obligations  to  you 
for  going  to  look  after  them,  and  cheer  them  in  their  homely 
condition.  May  God  reward  you  all  a  thousandfold. 
"  Very  respectfully  your  friend, 

"N.  H.   (JOHN  BROWN)." 

In  a  statement  made  by  Gerrit  Smith  to  his  wife, 
and  signed  by  him  January  3,  1874,  he  says:  "  I 
frequently  gave  John  Brown  money  to  promote  his 
slave-delivering  and  other  benevolent  purposes, — 
in  the  aggregate,  however,  only  about  a  thousand 
dollars.  This  would  have  been  none  too  much  to 
compensate  him  for  the  self-sacrificing  interest  in 
my  colony.  His  dependence  for  means  to  execute 
his  Southern  undertaking  was,  as  he  informed  me, 
mainly  on  the  good  and  generous  Mr.  Stearns  of 
Boston."* 

This  letter  effectually  disposes  of  Professor 
Von  Hoist's  statements  in  regard  to  Gerrit  Smith. 

*  Forwarded  by  Mrs.  Smith  to  F.  B.  Sanborn. 
137 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

With  John  Brown  on  one  side  and  Dr.  S.  G. 
Howe  (already  a  noted  revolutionist)  on  the  other, 
into  this  vortex  of  rebellion  against  constituted 
authority;  but  this  much  is  certain,  that  he  never 
regretted  the  fact,  and  always  considered  it — as  he 
said  in  the  face  of  the  secessionists  at  Niagara  Falls 
in  1863 — the  proudest  act  of  his  life,  that  he  gave 
John  Brown  the  rifles  he  carried  to  Harper's  Ferry. 

While  John  Brown  was  in  Boston  he  made  a 
call  on  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  for  whom  he  had 
a  sincere  respect,  but  he  did  not  meet  with  an  over- 
friendly  reception.  Garrison  greatly  regretted  the 
course  that  the  antislavery  movement  had  taken, 
and  considered  the  Free-soilers  chiefly  responsible 
for  it.  He  thought  Sumner's  oration  on  the 
"Crime  against  Kansas"  was  very  injudicious; 
and  that  it  would  be  better  to  give  Kansas  to  the 
slaveholders,  than  to  offer  armed  resistance  to 
them.  John  Brown  said  afterward,  that  it  was 
difficult  to  see  the  difference  between  Garrison's 
position,  and  that  of  a  pro-slavery  Democrat. 

Wendell  Phillips  and  Emerson,  on  the  contrary, 
treated  him  with  great  respect,  and  it  was  the  im 
pression  which  they  formed  at  this  time  of  the 
soundness  of  his  character  and  the  nobility  of  his 
nature,  which  led  them  to  give  him  such  unqualified 
support  while  he  was  lying  wounded  in  a  Virginia 
jail.  Mr.  Stearns  once  confessed  that  Emerson 
and  John  Brown  were  the  only  two  men  whom 
he  really  felt  to  be  his  superiors. 

It  was  in  April  that  John  Brown  wrote  his  sor 
rowful  and  affecting  farewell  to  "  Bunker  Hill 

138 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Monument,  Plymouth  Rock,  and  Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin."  On  May  loth  Mr.  Stearns  made  a  final 
appeal  to  the  National  Kansas  Committee  in  New 
York  City,  in  which  he  stated  the  necessities  of  the 
case  and  John  Brown's  purposes  in  the  following 
terms : 

"  Since  the  close  of  the  last  year  we  have  confined  our 
operations  to  aiding  those  persons  in  Kansas  who  were,  or 
intended  to  become  citizens  of  the  territory, — believing  that 
sufficient  inducements  to  immigrate  existed  in  the  prosper 
ous  state  of  affairs  there;  and  we  now  believe  that  should 
quiet  and  prosperity  continue  there  for  another  year,  the 
large  influx  of  Northern  and  Eastern  men  will  secure  the 
state  for  freedom.  To  insure  the  present  prosperity  we 
propose : — 

"  I.  To  have  our  legislature  make  a  grant  of  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  discreet  per 
sons,  who  shall  use  it  for  the  relief  of  those  in  Kansas  who 
are,  or  may  become,  destitute  through  Border-ruffian  out 
rage.  We  think  it  will  be  done. 

"  II.  To  organize  a  secret  force,  well  armed,  and  under 
control  of  the  famous  John  Brown,  to  repel  Border-ruffian 
outrage  and  defend  the  Free-state  men  from  all  alleged 
impositions.  This  organization  is  strictly  to  be  a  defensive 
one. 

"  III.  To  aid  by  timely  donations  of  money  those  parties 
of  settlers  in  the  territory  who  from  misfortune  are  unable 
to  provide  for  their  present  wants. 

"  I  am  personally  acquainted  with  Captain  Brown,  and 
have  great  confidence  in  his  courage,  prudence,  and  good 
judgment.  He  has  control  of  the  whole  affair,  including 
contributions  of  arms,  clothing,  etc.  His  presence  in  the 
territory  will,  we  think,  give  the  Free-state  men  confidence 
in  their  cause,  and  also  check  the  disposition  of  the  Border- 
ruffians  to  impose  on  them.  This  I  believe  to  be  the  most 
important  work  to  be  done  in  Kansas  at  the  present  time. 
Many  of  the  Free-state  leaders,  being  engaged  in  specula- 

139 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

tions,  are  willing  to  accept  peace  on  any  terms.  Brown 
and  his  friends  will  hold  to  the  original  principle  of 
making  Kansas  free,  without  regard  to  private  interests.  If 
you  agree  with  me,  I  should  like  to  have  your  money 
appropriated  for  the  use  of  Captain  John  Brown.  If  not 
that,  the  other  proposition,  to  aid  parties  of  settlers  now 
in  the  territory,  will  be  the  next  best. 

"  GEORGE  L.  STEARNS." 

The  following  day  Mr.  Stearns  wrote  a  similar 
letter  to  Mrs.  James  Gibbons,  who  still  continued 
to  assist  the  cause,  and  who  in  return  for  it  had 
her  house  pillaged  by  the  New  York  mob  of  July, 
1863.  The  last  of  April  he  had  written  thus  to 
John  Brown  at  Springfield,  Massachusetts: 

"DEAR  SIR: 

"  By  the  enclosed  note  of  the  nth  inst,  we  place  in  your 
hands  one  hundred  Sharpe's  rifles  to  be  sold  in  conformity 
therewith,  and  wish  you  to  make  the  proceeds  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Free-state  men  in  Kansas,  taking  an  account 
of  your  doings  as  far  as  practicable. 

"  Also  a  note  placing  a  further  sum  of  five  hundred 
dollars  at  your  disposal,  for  which  you  can  in  need  pass 
your  draft  on  our  Treasurer,  P.  T.  Jackson,  Esq." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  at  this  time  Mr. 
Stearns  was  perfectly  sincere  in  his  professions  of  a 
defensive  attitude  in  regard  to  Kansas  affairs.  Six 
months  later  he  wrote  both  to  Brown  and  Conway 
not  to  fire  "  until  the  enemy  fires."  If  he  shared 
to  any  degree  in  such  plans  of  Brown's  as  might 
be  suggested  by  the  Collinsville  pikes,  it  was  with 
regard  to  a  prospective  and  indefinite  future,  not  an 
immediate  one. 

In  the  summer  of  1857  Mr.  Stearns,  in  order  to 
relieve  his  mind  from  Kansas  affairs,  planned  a 

140 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

family  expedition  to  the  White  Mountains,  which 
were  much  wilder  and  more  interesting  then  than 
they  are  now,  with  railroads  running  through  them 
in  every  direction.  Starting  early  in  the  morning, 
at  Salem  they  met  Mrs.  Stearns'  sister  and  her 
husband,  Rev.  Dexter  Clapp;  and  at  Portland  they 
were  joined  by  her  other  sister,  Mrs.  Parsons,  and 
her  husband.  Mr.  T.  G.  Appleton,  with  the  Long 
fellow  children  in  charge,  was  on  the  train  to  Port 
land.  But  the  poet  was  not  with  them.  Arrived 
at  Gorham,  New  Hampshire,  Mr.  Stearns  found 
his  former  school-teaching  friend,  Thomas  Starr 
King,  now  a  distinguished  clergyman,  ready  to  give 
him  a  cordial  welcome;  and  the  party  were  enter 
tained  in  the  evening  by  a  sort  of  panoramic  dis 
course  on  the  mountains  by  Rev.  Mr.  King.  Two 
days  later,  they  all  ascended  Mount  Washington  on 
horseback,  except  Mrs.  Clapp,  who  was  much  of  an 
invalid.  On  their  return  the  same  lady  asked  them 
if  they  had  seen  any  bears  on  the  way,  to  which 
Mr.  Parsons,  who  had  a  shrewd  Yankee  wit, 
replied :  "  It  is  all  bare  up  there."  There  was  not 
even  a  superficial  ruffle  of  unpleasantness  during 
the  whole  excursion. 

Nor  should  we  overlook  a  delightful  visit  to 
the  Emersons  in  Concord,  on  a  June  evening,  and 
the  moonlight  ride  afterward. 

In  September  Mr.  Stearns  returned  to  his  Kan 
sas  labors  with  impatient  ardor.  He  wrote  thus 
to  Judge  Conway: 

'  Your  esteemed  favor  was  received  in  course. 
At  this  distance  it  is  impossible  to  form  a  decided 

141 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

opinion  with  respect  to  the  propriety  of  voting  or 
not  voting.  I  am  inclined  to  think  you  had  better 
vote  rather  than  divide  the  party,  but  am  open  to 
conviction  or  correction. 

"  Our  world  is  now  engrossed  with  the  impend 
ing  financial  crash.  If  it  would  snap  the  South  as 
well  as  the  North  I  would  welcome  it,  so  much  do 
I  hate  the  present  state  of  affairs." 

The  last  sentence  in  the  letter  to  Judge  Conway 
is  full  of  significance ;  for  it  suggests  the  transition 
from  defensive  to  offensive  warfare.  Why  did 
Mr.  Stearns  hate  the  then  existing  condition  of 
affairs  ? 

Kansas  was  like  an  entrenched  camp  waiting  for 
the  enemy  to  make  an  attack;  but  the  enemy  did 
not  choose  to  come.  The  Missourians,  under  the 
protection  of  the  United  States  Government,  could 
raise  their  crops,  whip  their  negroes  and  shoot 
ducks  in  peace  and  security,  while  the  Free-state 
men  across  the  border  were  obliged  to  be  on  the 
watch  day  and  night.  In  the  southern  counties  of 
Kansas,  a  band  of  jayhawkers  under  the  gallant 
Montgomery  had  not  only  defeated  the  Border- 
ruffians,  but  repulsed  a  detachment  of  United 
States  cavalry,  which  was  sent  to  disperse  him  and 
his  men.  Such  a  condition  of  affairs  is  a  severe 
strain  on  mind  and  nerves,  and  if  prolonged  suffi 
ciently  is  sure  to  result  in  open  war.  It  is  like  the 
condition  of  Prussia  in  1869,  when  it  was  exposed 
to  the  machinations  of  Louis  Napoleon  and  a  pos 
sible  European  coalition.  This  was  only  the  first 
year  of  the  administration  of  James  Buchanan,  and 

142 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

three  more  years  must  pass  before  there  could  be 
any  hope  of  a  change  of  policy  at  Washington. 

Talking  against  war  is  like  trying  to  choke  a 
volcano.  In  peaceable  times  nobody  wants  to  go  to 
war;  but  when  the  national  mind  is  made  up  for 
fighting  no  amount  of  eloquence  will  change  it  from 
its  purpose.  It  is  true  that  wars  sometimes  result 
from  the  rapacity  of  despots,  or  the  intrigues  of 
cabinets,  but  such  wars  are  becoming  more  and 
more  rare,  while  most  of  the  great  political  colli 
sions  of  history  have  had  a  national  and  popular 
character.  Wars  originate  from  injustice;  or 
from  the  arrogance,  greed,  and  foolish  prejudices, 
which  result  in  injustice ;  and  war  is  often  the  only 
means  by  which  a  people  can  obtain  justice.  Every 
public  speaker  who  glorifies  his  own  country  at 
the  expense  of  other  countries,  every  legislator  who 
supports  measures  in  the  interests  of  a  class  or  par 
ticular  section  and  prejudicial  to  other  classes  and 
sections,  every  chief  magistrate  who  discriminates 
unjustly  toward  foreign  countries — sows  the  seed 
of  future  bloodshed,  although  it  may  be  a  hun 
dred  years  in  ripening  its  deadly  fruit.  The  only 
preventive  against  war  is  to  be  found  in  more  just 
and  intelligent  government,  and  in  the  diffusion  of 
a  higher  quality  of  political  ideas  and  more  impar 
tial  statements  concerning  public  affairs. 

John  A.  Lowell,  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Massachusetts,  and  a  man  so  well  balanced  that  it 
was  difficult  to  say  whether  he  were  liberal  or  con 
servative,  stated  his  opinion,  many  years  ago,  that 
the  attempt  of  Presidents  Pierce  and  Buchanan  to 
force  slavery  upon  Kansas  against  the  will  of  its 

143 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

population  was  the  direct  cause  of  the  Civil  War, 
which  followed  so  quickly  afterward. 

On  August  loth  John  Brown  wrote  a  letter  to 
Mr.  Stearns  from  Tabor,  Iowa,  in  which  he  said : 

"  I  am  now  waiting  further  advice  from  Free-state  friends 
in  Kansas,  with  whom  I  have  speedy  private  communica 
tion  lately  started.  I  am  at  this  moment  unable  to  move  very 
much  from  an  injury  of  my  back,  but  getting  better  fast. 
1  am  in  immediate  want  of  from  five  hundred  to  one  thou 
sand  dollars  for  secret  service  and  no  questions  asked. 

"  Will  you  exert  yourself  to  have  that  amount,  or  some 
part  of  it,  placed  in  your  hands  subject  to  my  order?" 

The  answer  to  this  appeal  was  no  doubt  satisfac 
tory,  but  appears  to  have  been  destroyed — as  a 
letter  on  such  a  subject  should  be.*  Yet,  on  No 
vember  7th  Mr.  Stearns  wrote  to  Captain  Brown 
again  cautioning  him  against  too  bold  and  aggres 
sive  a  policy.  He  says  in  his  letter : 

"  Your  most  welcome  letter  of  the  i6th  ulto.  came  to  hand 
on  Saturday.  I  am  very  glad  to  learn  that  after  your  hard 
pilgrimage  you  are  in  more  comfortable  quarters  with  the 
means  to  meet  present  expenses. 

"  Let  me  hear  from  you  as  often  as  you  can,  giving  your 
impressions  of  passing  events  in  Kansas. 

"  I  have  written  Whitman,  to  whom  I  shall  enclose  this, 
that  in  my  opinion  the  Free-state  party  should  wait  for  the 
Border-ruffian  moves,  and  checkmate  them,  as  they  are 
developed.  Don't  attack  them,  but  if  they  attack  you, 
'  Give  them  Jessie '  and  Fremont  besides.  You  know  how 
to  do  it.  But  I  think  both  in  Kansas  and  in  Congress,  if 
we  let  the  Democratic  party  try  to  play  their  game,  we 
shall  find  they  will  do  themselves  more  harm  than  we  can 
do  them." 

*It  probably  referred  to  the  pikes  at  Collinsville. 
144 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Other  burdens  were  now  crowding  upon  Mr. 
Stearns.  The  loss  of  the  Central  America  and  the 
failure  of  the  Ohio  Loan  and  Trust  Company  was 
the  commencement  of  a  financial  crash,  in  which  one 
great  corporation  went  down  after  another,  like 
the  successive  detonations  in  a  thunder-storm.  Mr. 
Stearns  attributed  the  catastrophe  to  the  too  great 
extension  of  credit,  and  was  prepared  for  it  before 
hand.  Nevertheless  he  was  obliged  to  leave  public 
affairs  to  others,  and  to  pay  more  strict  attention  to 
his  own  business.  In  mercantile  life  it  is  only  a 
heartless  man  who  can  escape  from  the  ill-fortune 
of  his  neighbors,  and  in  prosperous  times  the  gen 
erous  merchant  receives  due  compensation  for  the 
help  he  has  given,  though  he  must  always  beware 
not  to  become  too  deeply  involved  in  the  affairs  of 
others.  His  position  is  like  that  of  a  sea-captain 
in  a  storm,  who  has  to  decide  whether  he  shall 
sacrifice  a  portion  of  his  cargo,  for  fear  of  losing  his 
ship. 

One  evening  in  December  Mr.  Stearns  returned 
unusually  late,  and  explained  his  absence  by  saying 
that  he  had  been  looking  over  Peter  Butler's 
accounts  and  trying  to  make  out  what  could  be 
done  for  him.  Mr.  Butler  had  been  speculating  in 
Michigan  Central,  and  was  in  a  pretty  tight  fix. 
Mr.  Stearns  did  not  feel  sure  that  he  would  escape 
bankruptcy.  If  others  would  only  help,  all  would 
be  well.  He  spent  nearly  a  week  over  Peter  But 
ler's  affairs,  and  at  the  end  of  three  days  he  said : 
"  At  last  I  have  found  a  man  who  will  help  me 
about  Butler."  He  said  this  in  a  manner  he 
assumed  when  anything  pleased  him  very  much. 
10  145 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Who  this  good  Samaritan  was,  has  been  long  since 
forgotten;  but  with  his  help  and  Mr.  Stearns',  a 
favorable  compromise  was  effected  with  Peter  But 
ler's  creditors.  Mr.  Stearns  must  have  loaned  him 
also  a  large  sum  of  money,  for  more  than  five 
thousand  dollars  still  remained  unpaid  in  1867. 

The  following  year  Charles  Francis  Adams  was 
nominated  for  Congress,  and  at  Mr.  Stearns'  insti 
gation  Peter  Butler,  who  also  lived  in  Quincy, 
assisted  to  elect  him;  but  after  Mr.  Adams  made 
his  celebrated  speech  in  which  he  admitted  the  pos 
sibility  of  peaceable  secession,  Mr.  Stearns 
regretted  his  share  in  this. 


146 


IX 

PEACE  AND   PROSPERITY 

THE  year  1858  was  exceptional  in  Mr.  Stearns' 
life  for  the  absence  of  all  outward  disturbing 
causes.  He  was  now  in  his  fiftieth  year,  and  a 
perfectly  well  man,  though  not  a  very  strong  one. 
He  had  achieved  a  decided  success  in  Kansas,  and 
though  far  from  the  applause  of  the  multitude,  his 
work  had  received  due  recognition.  He  counted 
among  his  friends  some  of  the  most  distinguished 
men  of  his  time.  His  calm,  determined  expression, 
with  his  long  beard,  made  him  a  notable  figure  on 
State  Street,  where  he  was  universally  respected 
for  his  promptness,  accuracy,  and  straightforward 
dealing.  It  was  the  same  in  New  York,  where 
August  Belmont,  the  agent  of  Rothschild,  once  said 
to  him :  '  You  have  only  to  show  me  your  note, 
Mr.  Stearns,  and  I  hand  it  to  the  cashier."  He  had 
left  his  counting-room  on  Water  Street,  and  now 
occupied  a  larger  store  at  129  Milk  Street,  where 
his  plain  black  and  white  sign  attracted  more  atten 
tion  than  the  gilded  names  about  it.  His  Water 
Street  office  was  close  to  the  birthplaces  of  Franklin 
and  Emerson. 

Fanny  Elssler  had  long  since  gone  the  way  of 
all  horse-flesh,  but  she  was  replaced  by  a  pair  of 
Black  Hawk  mares,  which,  if  not  so  swift,  were 
quite  remarkable  for  beauty  of  form.  There  were 
few  things  Mr.  Stearns  despised  so  much  as  fast 

i47 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

driving,  and  if  any  one  tried  to  pass  him  on  the 
road,  he  would  tell  the  coachman  to  rein  in  his 
horses  and  let  the  fool  go  by.  Thomas  Goddard, 
the  famous  carriage-maker,  who  weighed  every 
spoke  that  he  put  into  a  wheel,  made  two  equipages 
exactly  alike,  one  for  George  L.  Stearns,  and  the 
other  for  Charles  Francis  Adams. 

At  this  time  Mr.  Stearns  had  not  a  white  hair 
in  his  head.  His  beard  was  of  a  ruddy  brown,  and 
his  hair  of  a  lighter  tint.  His  face,  like  that  of  most 
mercantile  men,  rarely  changed  its  expression,  and 
after  the  Kansas  trouble  began  it  became  more  and 
more  serious.  Yet  his  large  hazel  eyes  were  full  of 
kindliness,  and  at  times  he  seemed  as  ingenuous  as 
a  child.  He  always  wore  a  soft  hat,  and  would 
have  made  an  excellent  study  for  Rembrandt. 
George  L.  Stearns  was  not  a  reflective  man  in  the 
customary  sense.  He  liked  to  hear  Emerson  lec 
ture,  but  he  never  entertained  himself  with  general 
reflections  on  life  and  nature.  Neither  was  he  an 
observing  man,  except  so  far  as  observation  was 
essential  to  the  business  he  had  in  hand.  He  illus 
trated  the  precept  that  the  one  safety  in  life  lies  in 
concentration.  But  concentration  also  had  its  reac 
tion,  and  in  Mr.  Stearns'  case  its  tendency  was  to 
make  him  taciturn,  and  what  is  falsely  called  self- 
absorbed;  so  that  when  his  public  services  were 
over  he  could  hardly  be  said  to  have  been  well 
acquainted  with  his  own  children. 

Yet  he  could  solve  a  problem  in  human  nature 
when  it  was  placed  directly  before  him.  A  boy 
who  sometimes  came  to  the  house,  and  was  reputed 
to  be  much  of  a  Latin  scholar,  once  asked  him  if  it 

148 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

were  not  a  better  sign  in  a  watch  to  go  slow  rather 
than  for  it  to  go  fast.  Mr.  Stearns  looked  at  the 
boy  curiously  and  said :  "  No ;  for  all  depends  on 
the  regulator."  Afterwards  he  remarked  that  this 
boy  might  learn  his  lessons  easily,  but  that  there 
was  something  the  matter  with  his  understanding. 
"  I  do  not  think  he  will  make  a  practical  man;  " 
and  this  prediction  came  to  be  true. 

He  disliked  arguments,  and  would  never  enter 
into  one  if  he  could  avoid  it.  He  considered  them 
a  waste  of  time  and  strength.  He  liked  men  who 
spoke  their  mind  out  freely,  and  permitted  him  to 
speak  his.  Of  a  certain  neighbor  who  was  much 
too  disputative,  he  said :  "  Friend  L.  has  much  to 
learn,  and  I  am  much  afraid  that  he  will  never 
learn  it." 

For  all  subjects  to  which  he  gave  his  attention 
he  applied  the  touchstone  of  reality.  He  heard 
Everett's  oration  on  Washington — a  perfect  work 
of  art  in  its  way — but  it  did  not  satisfy  him.  He 
considered  the  men  too  far  apart.  Washington 
was  a  worker,  and  Everett  only  a  scholar.  Neither 
was  he  pleased  with  Wendell  Phillips'  more  bril 
liant  lecture  on  Toussaint.  He  appreciated  Phil 
lips'  motive  in  exaggerating  the  character  of  a 
negro  patriot,  yet  he  did  not  like  the  thing  itself. 
He  greatly  enjoyed  Lowell's  "  Biglow  Papers;" 
but  thought  his  prose  writings  on  politics  had  little 
value.  They  betrayed  a  lack  of  practical  experi 
ence.  He  esteemed  old  Bronson  Alcott  for  his 
freshness,  originality,  and  cheerful  endurance  of 
adverse  circumstances.  He  considered  him  a 
shrewder  man  than  was  generally  supposed,  and 

149 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

respected  him  especially  for  having  chosen  such  an 
excellent  wife. 

Although  a  sensitive  man  himself,  Mr.  Stearns 
had  little  patience  with  sensitiveness  in  others.  It 
is  doubtful  if  he  reflected  on  his  own  character  or 
peculiarities  at  any  time.  He  only  considered  his 
own  actions  so  far  as  they  might  be  judged  from  a 
moral  point  of  view.  What  others  might  think  of 
them  rarely  occurred  to  him.  Mrs.  Stearns,  al 
though  she  read  Emerson  and  Wordsworth,  was 
socially  ambitious,  and  would  sometimes  complain 
of  her  husband  for  not  adopting  a  more  stylish 
appearance,  and  for  not  trying  to  advance  his  own 
interests  and  those  of  his  family.  This  he  endured 
in  the  meekest  possible  manner;  and  on  one  such 
occasion  said :  "  I  think,  considering  all  things, 
I  have  done  very  well ;  and  if  I  have  any  influence 
in  the  world  I  believe  it  is  because  people  know  that 
I  have  no  interests  of  my  own  to  further." 

In  many  respects  he  resembled  Thackeray's 
Colonel  Newcomb.  He  never  could  be  induced  to 
sit  for  his  portrait;  not  from  any  narrow-minded 
notions  on  the  subject,  but  because  he  could  not  see 
any  sufficient  reason  for  it.  For  that  matter,  there 
was  no  artist  in  Boston  in  his  time  who  could  have 
done  him  justice.* 

He  might  have  been  seen  almost  any  Wednesday 
afternoon  in  winter  at  the  symphony  rehearsals  in 
the  Music  Hall,  either  with  his  wife  or  Rev.  Samuel 
Johnson.  He  was  so  quiet  and  undemonstrative 

*  William  M.  Hunt  could  paint  a  stable-boy,  but  he  never 
succeeded  with  the  portrait  of  an  intellectual  man. 

ISO 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

that  a  stranger  might  not  feel  sure  whether  he  was 
resting  himself  or  listening  to  the  music;  but  if 
he  had  not  enjoyed  it  he  would  not  have  been 
there.  He  used  to  be  greatly  amused  with  the 
school-girls  who  came  to  the  Music  Hall  to  meet 
their  beaux,  and  with  the  older  women  of  fashion 
who  came  for  the  purpose  of  placing  themselves  on 
exhibition. 

There  was  nothing  he  enjoyed  so  much,  however, 
as  Fanny  Kemble's  dramatic  readings  of  Shake 
speare.  He  once  went  to  hear  her  twelve  nights  in 
two  weeks,  driving  out  to  Medford  after  ten  o'clock 
p.  M.  There  never  has  been  another  reader  like  Mrs. 
Kemble — one  who  could  lose  herself  in  the  charac 
ter  she  was  representing,  and  at  the  same  time 
retain  a  perfect  mastery  over  voice  and  action ;  and 
the  range  of  her  impersonations  seemed  equal  to 
that  of  Shakespeare  himself.  Wendell  Phillips  and 
every  noted  speaker  in  Boston  could  be  found  in 
her  audiences. 

Mrs.  Stearns  arranged  a  handsome  bouquet  for 
Mrs.  Kemble's  table  every  evening;  and  when  the 
course  was  over,  at  the  suggestion  of  her  man  of 
business,  Mrs.  Kemble  presented  the  table  to  Mrs. 
Stearns,  and  expressed  a  desire  to  make  her  ac 
quaintance,  which,  however,  was  prevented  by 
some  accident. 

Emerson  did  not  like  Mrs.  Frances  Kemble,  and 
he  checked  Mrs.  Stearns'  enthusiasm  by  saying: 
"  Great  exaggerated  creature;  I  felt  a  kind  of  satis 
faction  to  know  that  the  ocean  rolled  between  us. 
One  simple,  unpretending  New  England  girl  is 
worth  a  dozen  of  her." 

151 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

What  Emerson  probably  had  in  mind  was  Mrs. 
Kemble's  imperious  manners, — breaking  car  win 
dows  for  fresh  air  and  the  like;  but  she  prob 
ably  acquired  this  peculiarity  of  manner  while  she 
was  the  wife  of  Senator  Pierce  Butler  of  South 
Carolina.  Yet  she  once  candidly  admitted  that 
there  was  a  riotous  element  in  her,  which  could 
only  be  controlled  by  severe  repressive  regulations. 
It  may  have  been  something  in  her  blood  which 
she  could  not  help.* 

Mr.  Stearns  thought  that  Emerson  was  rather 
severe,  and  that  generally  he  was  too  hard  on  poor 
human  nature.  "  It  is  not  every  one/'  he  said, 
"  who  has  such  cool  blood  in  his  veins  as  Ralph 
Waldo  Emerson."  He  also  considered  that  Emer 
son  cared  too  much  for  formal  truth,  as  opposed 
to  the  spirit  of  sincerity.  His  leaving  the  pulpit 
because  it  was  against  his  conscience  to  perform 
the  communion  service  was  a  case  in  point.  Mr. 
Stearns  differed  from  his  radical  friends  on  this 
subject.  He  said :  "I  look  upon  the  ceremony  as 
a  communion  of  the  members  of  the  church  with 
the  Spirit  of  Christ.  Nobody  nowadays  believes 
that  a  miracle  is  being  performed,  and  that  they 
are  really  eating  the  flesh  and  drinking  the  blood 
of  Jesus.  People  may  have  thought  so  in  more 
superstitious  ages,  but  the  character  of  the  cere- 


*  Mrs.  Kemble's  testimony  in  regard  to  slavery  was  inval 
uable,  published  in  1862,  when  the  English,  people  were 
beginning  to  think  that  it  was  not  such  a  bad  institution 
after  all. 


152 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

mony  has  changed  with  the  times."  He  thought  it 
helped  to  unite  the  society.* 

At  a  children's  party  given  by  Mrs.  George  S. 
Hillard  there  was  a  bright,  lively  boy  named 
Metcalf,  who  attracted  general  attention  from  the 
good-humored  expression  on  his  face.  Mr.  Stearns 
was  disgusted,  however,  to  learn  from  Mr.  Hillard 
that  Metcalfs  father,  who  was  a  Catholic,  had 
destined  him  to  become  a  priest.  "  What  an  in 
stance  of  parental  despotism,"  he  said.  "  How 
unnatural  and  inconsiderate  of  his  son's  happiness 
— such  a  merry,  cheerful  boy !  " 

Mr.  Stearns  believed  it  was  right  for  a  father 
to  coerce  his  son  in  regard  to  a  profession  in  cases 
where  the  latter  was  too  slow  in  making  his  own 
decision,  or  where  he  had  an  inclination  for  some 
out-of-the-way  occupation,  like  acting  or  painting, 
for  which  he  had  not  sufficient  talent ;  but  he  con 
sidered  it  very  wrong  to  determine  a  boy's  destiny 
before  the  time  had  arrived  when  it  became  neces 
sary  to  decide  it,  and  without  consulting  his  wishes 
in  any  way.  Theodore  Metcalf  was  an  excellent 
apothecary  and  much  respected  by  the  medical  pro 
fession,  but  he  was  a  confirmed  hypochondriac, 
which  probably  accounts  for  his  conversion  to  the 
Church  of  Rome. 

Once  when  Mrs.   Stearns  referred  to  the  two 


*  Zwinglius,  the  Swiss  reformer,  wished  to  have  the  tran- 
substantiation  accepted  allegorically,  but  the  more  super 
stitious  Luther  objected  to  this.  It  would  seem  to  have  been 
originally  a  Greco-Roman  rite  adopted  into  the  Church  to 
conciliate  the  pagans. 

153 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OP 

daughters  of  a  friend  in  Springfield,  who  went  to 
Rome  alone  and  became  converted  there  as  a  nat 
ural  consequence,  her  husband  said :  "  My  dear, 
women  always  like  to  be  in  the  fashion.  That  is  the 
explanation  of  it."  He  called  joining  the  Catholic 
Church,  "  setting  one's  self  back  four  centuries." 

Mr.  Stearns'  charities  were  not  confined  to  sub 
scription  lists.  One  day  he  discovered  a  barefooted 
urchin,  perhaps  ten  years  old,  seated  at  the  foot  of 
one  of  his  trees  and  weeping  bitterly.  With  some 
difficulty  he  elicited  from  the  boy  that  he  lived  in 
Charlestown,  that  his  name  was  Stark  MacGregor, 
that  his  mother  was  dead,  and  that  his  father  had 
married  another  woman  who  whipped  him  severely. 
Mr.  Stearns  took  the  boy  to  his  house,  had  him 
washed  and  clothed,  and  made  inquiries,  through 
the  foreman  of  his  mill,  in  regard  to  the  Mac 
Gregor  family.  Stark's  statement  proved  to  be 
well  founded,  and  Mr.  Stearns  obtained  permission 
from  the  father  to  send  the  boy  to  a  cheap  country 
school ;  but  he  proved  to  be  so  vicious  and  intract 
able  that  nothing  could  be  done  with  him,  and  he 
found  his  way  at  length  into  a  reformatory  insti 
tution. 

Such  failures  in  philanthropy  never  discouraged 
Mr.  Stearns  in  his  good  will  toward  man;  but  in 
his  later  years  he  came  to  the  conclusion,  after  much 
ingratitude,  that  it  was  possible  to  treat  both  men 
and  women  better  than  they  deserved.  He  always 
believed  that  severity  was  necessary  in  the  educa 
tion  of  children,  as  well  as  kindness;  and  he  told 
Mr.  Sanborn  that  he  thought  it  of  no  use  to  whip  a 
stubborn  boy,  but  to  a  lazy  one  it  might  do  good. 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

He  thought  that  boys  should  be  sent  away  from 
home  for  a  year  or  two  to  prevent  them  from 
becoming  soft  and  effeminate;  but  he  regretted 
having  sent  his  own  boys  away  at  a  very  tender 
age  to  a  school  where  they  encountered  aristocratic 
blackguard  boys,  who  were  quite  as  vicious  in  their 
way  as  Stark  MacGregor, 

Mr.  Stearns  was  sometimes  very  witty,  and  when 
he  was  informed  of  Stark's  final  destination  he 
only  remarked :  "  The  MacGregor  is  now  on  his 
native  heath." 

When  a  member  of  the  Kansas  Aid  committee 
said  that  he  wished  that  some  one  could  be  found 
who  would  devote  his  whole  time  to  Kansas,  Mr. 
Stearns  replied :  "  I  wish  I  could  find  some  one 
who  would  go  without  a  dinner  for  Kansas." 

He  was  not  a  professed  philanthropist,  and  would 
have  repudiated  the  title,  which,  indeed,  has  come 
to  be  rather  a  dubious  compliment.  Machine  char 
ities  were  not  sufficiently  human  for  his  liking.  He 
thought  it  better  that  a  person  of  comfortable 
means  should  take  a  direct  interest  in  the  welfare 
of  the  poor.  He  gave  because  he  could  not  endure 
to  see  others  suffering;  and  it  was  the  same  in 
regard  to  dumb  animals.  He  could  not  understand 
the  pleasure  his  friend  Frank  W.  Bird  found  in 
shooting  deer  in  the  Adirondacks.  He  thought  he 
might  kill  one  deer,  but  if  he  did  he  never  should 
shoot  another.  He  never  gave  presents  to  the 
rich,  and  rarely  to  his  own  relatives,  excepting  his 
wife.  If  his  boys  wanted  money  he  made  them 
earn  it  by  hoeing  corn  or  in  some  such  manner. 
He  disliked  Christmas  and  other  occasions  on 
which  presents  are  customarily  expected. 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

THE  BIRD  CLUB 

Mr.  Stearns  never  joined  but  two  clubs,  the 
Bird  Club  of  Boston,  and  the  Union  League  Club 
of  Philadelphia,  both  political  clubs,  and  the  most 
important  of  the  Civil  War  period.  He  had  no 
objection  to  social  clubs — for  business  purposes 
and  for  bachelors,  old  and  young — but  they  were 
too  often  the  desolation  of  married  life,  and  he  had 
no  use  for  them  personally.  He  was  first  invited 
to  the  Bird  Club  in  the  spring  of  1858,  although  at 
that  time  it  could  hardly  be  called  a  club  at  all. 
Mr.  Bird  himself  could  not  remember  exactly  when 
the  club  originated.  Like  all  permanent  and  effec 
tive  organizations  it  had  a  natural  and  spontaneous 
origin.  Long  before  the  election  of  President 
Pierce,  Frank  W.  Bird,  John  A.  Andrew,  and  a 
few  other  Free-soilers  were  accustomed  to  dine 
together  on  Saturdays,  to  discuss  political  affairs. 
There  was  no  formal  organization,  and  how  the 
name  of  Bird  Club  came  to  be  attached  to  their 
meetings,  they  never  could  tell.  It  would  seem  to 
have  originated  with  their  political  opponents. 

In  1854  Frank  W.  Bird,  Dr.  S.  G.  Howe,  and 
others  supported  a  campaign  paper  called  the  Com- 
monwealth,  of  which  Elizur  Wright  was  editor; 
and  this  brought  him  into  the  ring.  Sumner  at 
tended  their  meetings  whenever  he  was  in  Boston, 
and  as  the  Republican  party  developed  the  club 
increased  in  numbers.  In  1855  Parker  built  his 
marble  hotel  on  School  Street — quite  a  novelty  in 
its  time — and  the  club  engaged  a  private  dining- 
room  there,  which  they  retained  until  1863.  At 

156 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

the  time  of  Lincoln's  election  the  club  numbered 
among  its  members  the  governor  of  the  state,  both 
senators,  four  or  five  representatives  to  Congress, 
and  two  or  three  ex-governors.  There  were  other 
members  of  the  club,  important  in  their  way,  who 
either  held  offices  or  wanted  offices. 

The  Bird  Club  had  no  formal  organization,  nor 
a  very  definite  membership.  Any  member  could 
bring  in  a  friend,  and  if  he  was  found  to  be  con 
genial,  he  would  be  invited  to  come  again.  The 
club  never  acted  together  consciously  as  a  political 
body,  and  yet  when  the  leading  members  were  of 
one  mind  it  was  a  very  powerful  political  machine. 
While  Andrew  was  governor,  the  club  was  almost 
omnipotent  in  Massachusetts;  and  yet  it  never 
undertook  to  do  politics  for  Massachusetts.  It 
never  became  a  clique  or  faction,  nor  the  advocate 
of  sectional  interests.  It  had  a  truly  national  char 
acter  and  was  as  influential  at  Washington  as  at 
the  state-house,  and  this  was  owing  to  the  disin 
terested  patriotism  of  Sumner,  Andrew,  and  Wil 
son.  The  club  was  in  all  respects  equal  to  the 
heroic  age  in  which  it  existed. 

The  Bird  Club  was  not  only  a  political  power 
in  its  own  time,  but  it  gave  its  stamp  to  Massachu 
setts  politics.  Governors  like  Russell  and  Wolcott 
have  modelled  themselves  on  Andrew;  and  it  is 
not  difficult  to  perceive  the  influence  of  Sumner's 
example  on  Senator  Hoar  and  Senator  Lodge. 

In  1872  the  club  was  divided  by  the  collision 
between  Grant  and  Sumner,  and  the  larger  number 
of  its  members,  who  remained  in  the  Republican 
party,  adopted  the  name  of  the  Massachusetts 

157 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Club,  under  which  title  it  still  exists,  and  in  their 
clubroom  at  Young's  Hotel  hangs  a  large  crayon 
portrait  of  George  L.  Stearns,  which  was  ordered 
soon  after  his  death. 


158 


X 

A  CONSPIRACY 

AT  a  John  Brown  commemoration  meeting  in 
Boston  in  1880,  Hon.  Thomas  Russell  made  the 
statement  that  George  L.  Stearns  came  to  his  house, 
where  John  Brown  was  staying  in  April,  1857,  and 
gave  Brown  a  check  for  seven  thousand  dollars, 
and  that  Mrs.  Stearns  offered  to  throw  in  the  car 
riage  and  horses,  and  make  it  eight  thousand. 
Mrs.  Stearns  seemed  to  remember  the  fact,  and 
endorsed  it  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Sanborn.*  Further 
evidence  in  regard  to  this  transaction,  however, 
is  unfortunately  wanting.  No  such  sum  of  money 
appears  to  have  been  drawn  by  Mr.  Stearns  from 
his  business  at  any  one  time  in  1857;  and  we  find 
Brown  writing  to  James  H.  Lane,  September  16, 
1857,  and  later  to  F.  B.  Sanborn,  from  Tabor, 
Iowa,  as  if  he  was  seriously  in  need  of  money  at 
that  time.  It  is  possible  that  John  Brown  returned 
Mr.  Steams'  check  a  day  or  two  later,  with  the 
understanding  that  Mr.  Stearns  should  supply  him 
from  time  to  time  with  such  sums  as  he  actually 
needed.  There  was  good  reason  why  he  should  do 
so,  for  he  could  not  have  deposited  so  large  an 
amount  in  his  own  name  without  its  attracting  pub 
lic  attention,  and  it  would  have  been  equally  im 
prudent  to  have  deposited  it  under  the  alias  of 

*  Sanborn's  "  John  Brown,"  p.  509. 
159 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

Jonas  Jones,  which  he  assumed  when  travelling. 
He  may  also  have  felt  conscientious  scruples  against 
accepting  so  large  a  sum  of  money  from  Mr. 
Stearns. 

John  Brown's  position  at  Tabor  during  the  sum 
mer  of  1857  throws  some  light  for  us  on  his  order 
for  the  pikes  at  Collinsville.  On  September  16 
General  Lane  wrote  him  an  urgent  letter  to  come 
to  Kansas  and  assist  in  the  preparations  they  were 
making  against  an  expected  invasion  of  the  Mis- 
sourians;  but  Brown  answered  in  a  dilatory  man 
ner  and  did  not  come  until  nearly  a  month  later. 
It  is  evident  that  he  also  expected  an  invasion  of 
the  Missourians,  but  intended  to  act  upon  it  in  a 
way  of  his  own.  Tabor  is  on  the  northwest  border 
of  Missouri,  and  would  have  been  a  fine  strategic 
position  for  him.  In  case  of  an  invasion  he  could 
have  made  a  descent  into  Missouri,  and  have  easily 
stirred  up  a  slave  insurrection  while  the  masters 
were  absent.  Brown  might  have  been  overpowered 
by  the  returning  forces  of  the  enemy,  but  the  effect 
in  any  case  would  have  been  tremendous.  How 
ever,  the  Missourians  never  invaded  Kansas  again 
until  Quantrell's  raid  in  1863.  They  were  too 
much  afraid  of  the  effect  of  Sharpe's  rifles. 

This  explanation  of  John  Brown's  inactivity 
during  the  autumn  of  1857,  is  strongly  supported 
by  the  testimony  of  William  H.  Seward  before  the 
Harper's  Ferry  Investigating  Committee,  as  to 
what  Hugh  Forbes  confided  to  him  in  regard  to 
Brown's  plans.* 

*  Given  at  the  close  of  this  chapter. 
160 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

The  last  of  January  John  Brown  started  east 
ward  again,  and  Mr.  Stearns,  who  was  in  New 
York  City  at  the  time,  received  a  letter  from  him 
dated  Rochester,  February  i,  which  unfortunately 
has  not  been  preserved,  but  the  following  letter, 
which  he  wrote  to  Theodore  Parker,  is  of  great 
importance.* 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  : 

"  I  am  again  out  of  Kansas  and  am  at  this  time  concealing 
my  whereabouts ;  but  for  very  different  reasons,  however, 
from  those  I  had  for  doing  so  at  Boston  last  spring.  I  have 
nearly  perfected  arrangements  for  carrying  out  an  important 
measure  in  which  the  world  has  a  deep  interest,  as  well  as 
Kansas,  and  only  lack  from  five  to  eight  hundred  dollars  to 
enable  me  to  do  so, — the  same  object  for  which  I  asked 
for  secret-service  money  last  fall." 

And  again: 

"  I  have  written  George  L.  Stearns,  Esq.,  of  Medford,  and 
Mr.  F.  B.  Sanborn,  of  Concord ;  but  I  am  not  informed  as 
to  how  deeply-dyed  abolitionists  those  friends  are,  and  must 
beg  of  you  to  consider  this  communication  strictly  confi 
dential, — unless  you  know  of  parties  who  will  feel  and  act, 
and  hold  their  peace.  I  want  to  bring  the  thing  about  during 
the  next  sixty  days.  Please  write  to  N.  Hawkins,  care  Wil 
liam  J.  Watkins,  Esq.,  Rochester,  N.  Y." 

The  important  measure  referred  to  can  be  no 
other  than  Captain  Brown's  intended  foray  in  Vir 
ginia,  and  it  is  evident  that  neither  Stearns  nor 
Sanborn  had  as  yet  any  suspicion  of  that  design. 
Mr.  Stearns'  reply  of  February  4  counsels  prudent 
and  conservative  measures : 

*  Sanborn's  "  John  Brown,"  p.  434. 
ii  161 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

"  MY  DEAR  FRIEND  : 

"  Your  letter  of  the  nth  inst.  was  received  from  Boston 
to-day.  The  $500  was  furnished  you  by  Whitman  at  my 
request.  It  was  done  because  I  thought  you  needed  money 
for  the  winter,  not  because  I  felt  myself  under  obligation 
to  you,  for  I  had  made  up  my  mind  then,  and  still  continue 
to  believe  that  our  friends  need  no  aid  in  defending  them 
selves  from  all  marauders,  and  that  their  true  course  now 
is  to  meet  the  enemy  at  the  ballot-box,  and  vote  them  down 
on  every  occasion.  With  the  Territorial  Legislature  in  their 
hands,  they  can  defend  themselves  against  every  oppression, 
and  they  should  do  so.  If  I  am  correct  in  my  conclusions, 
the  contingency  for  which  I  gave  you  my  pledge  having 
ceased  to  exist,  I  am  no  longer  bound  by  it,  and  it  should 
be  returned  to  me  without  conditions.*  From  your  last 
letter  to  me  I  supposed  you  would  return  it  as  early  as  con 
venient  to  you. 

"  If  I  am  in  error  I  shall  be  glad  to  be  enlightened  by  you, 
and  hope  to  receive  on  my  return  to  Boston  an  early  reply 
to  this. 

"  I  am  not,  however,  indifferent  to  your  request,  believing 
your  advice  and  encouragement  to  our  friends  to  be  of  great 
importance. 

"  If  you  can  go  to  Boston  you  will  have  a  much  better 
chance  of  success,  and  I  will  aid  you  as  far  as  it  is  proper 
that  I  should  do  so. 

"  Colonel    Forbes   has   written   several   abusive   letters   to 
Charles  Sumner,  and  Sanborn,  claiming  that  you  had  made 
a  positive  contract  to  pay  him  money,  based  on  promises 
made  to  you  by  the  New  England  men.    Is  it  so? 
"Truly  yours, 

"  GEO.  L.  STEARNS." 

It  is  evident  from  this  letter  that,  although  Mr. 
Stearns'  confidence  in  Brown's  character  remained 
unshaken,  the  communications  from  Forbes  had 
led  him  to  mistrust  his  judgment.  It  is  much  to 

*This  may  refer  to  the  draft  for  $7000. 
162 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

be  regretted  that  John  Brown's  second  letter  from 
Rochester  has  not  been  preserved,  for  it  no  doubt 
contained  the  explanation  in  regard  to  his  relation 
with  Forbes,  which  has  never  been  made  public. 
That  Mr.  Stearns  still  continued  to  reserve  his 
judgment  appears  from  his  second  reply  to  Brown 
on  February  1 2  : 

"  DEAR  SIR  : 

"  Your  last  letter  is  at  hand.  I  have  seen  Mr.  Sanborn 
and  we  have  agreed  to  write  to  you  to  come  to  Boston  and 
meet  us  here.  If  it  is  not  convenient  for  you  to  meet  the 
expense  of  the  journey  we  will  repay  it  to  you  here,  or  send 
the  money  as  you  may  direct. 

"  Truly  your  friend, 

"  GEORGE  L.  STEARNS." 

John  Brown  did  not  arrive  in  Boston  until 
early  in  March,  and  then  proceeded  to  communi 
cate  his  plan,  first  singly,  and  afterwards  in  a  gen 
eral  conclave,  to  George  L.  Stearns,  Dr.  S.  G. 
Howe,  Theodore  Parker,  T.  W.  Higginson,  and 
Frank  B.  Sanborn.  These  men  may  be  said  to 
have  formed  a  conspiracy  with  John  Brown  against 
slavery;  and  to  them  may  be  added,  Gerrit  Smith 
of  Peterboro,  New  York,  and  Judge  Conway  of 
Kansas,  who  long  afterward  admitted  to  Mrs. 
Stearns  that  he  was  cognizant  of  Brown's  designs — 
a  highly  honorable  confidence. 

John  Brown's  plan  at  this  time  was  to  penetrate 
with  his  men  into  the  heart  of  the  Virginia  moun 
tains,  and  form  an  entrenched  camp  there,  or  a 
series  of  fortified  retreats.  He  had  traversed  the 
ground  as  a  surveyor,  in  earlier  years,  and  he  be 
lieved  that  a  portion  of  the  population  would  be 

163 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

friendly  to  him.  Then  he  would  descend  into  the 
valleys  at  night,  organize  insurrections,  and  induce 
the  negroes  to  join  him.  If  they  were  attacked 
in  their  strongholds  the  negroes  would  have  their 
pikes  for  self-defence.  They  could  be  convoyed 
northward  through  the  mountains  into  Pennsylva 
nia.  This  was  near  the  region  where  Nat  Turner's 
rebellion  originated,  and  the  Virginia  negroes  were 
a  very  intelligent  class,  many  of  them  being  the 
brothers  of  their  own  masters.  John  Brown  be 
lieved  that  if  an  insurrection  was  started  and  held 
its  ground  even  for  a  few  days,  the  whole  country 
from  the  Potomac  to  Savannah  would  be  ablaze. 
Even  if  he  failed  he  would  give  slavery  a  shock 
from  which  it  could  never  recover. 

The  weak  point  in  this  plan,  as  may  be  evident 
to  any  one,  was  that  Brown  would  find  it  difficult 
to  recross  the  Potomac  in  case  he  should  be  obliged 
to  retreat.  In  spite  of  this,  Dr.  Howe  approved 
of  the  plan,  and  as  a  Greek  revolutionist  he  was 
looked  upon  by  his  fellow  conspirators  as  an  au 
thority.  He  had  seen  Turkish  armies  defeated  or 
baffled,  in  the  mountain  passes  of  Arcadia  by  a 
comparatively  small  number  of  Greeks,  and  he 
believed  the  same  could  be  done  in  the  Alleghanies ; 
so  that,  after  much  discussion  and  deliberation,  it 
was  decided  to  stand  by  John  Brown  or  at  least 
give  him  moral  support  in  his  perilous  undertaking. 
In  fact,  the  man  was  so  determined,  that  the  only 
choice  lay  between  this  and  breaking  with  him 
altogether.  John  Brown  could  exert  a  personal 
magnetism  like  that  of  Webster  or  Bismarck. 

There  have  been  good  conspiracies  and  bad  con- 
164 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

spiracies  ever  since  government  began ;  but  in  most 
instances  the  existence  of  a  conspiracy  is  an  indi 
cation  of  misgovernment.  This  might  even  be 
affirmed  of  conspirators  like  Guy  Fawkes  and 
Marino  Faliero,  who  have  a  kind  of  justification 
from  a  party  standpoint;  but  we  condemn  them 
because  their  means  were  out  of  proportion  to  their 
ends — the  remedy  was  worse  than  the  disease.  In 
such  cases  the  character  of  the  men  engaged  in  a 
conspiracy  is  the  best  justification  of  its  necessity; 
and  where  in  America  could  have  been  found  six 
individuals  of  more  exemplary  character,  more 
judicious,  or  more  disinterested  than  these  Eastern 
supporters  of  John  Brown  ?  They  were  not  vision 
ary  theorists,  or  unpractical  reformers,  but  plain, 
sensible  men,  and  the  bond  which  united  them  was 
an  almost  Christ-like  sympathy  for  the  suffering 
and  oppressed.  They  certainly  had  no  personal 
object  to  gratify  in  this  enterprise,  and  were  far 
removed  from  the  desire  for  office  which  attaches 
to  the  ordinary  politician. 

It  is  easy  enough  to  say  with  a  fine  inflection  of 
the  voice  that  in  democratic  republics  all  reforms 
should  proceed  according  to  law  and  order.  So 
the  Missourians  attempted  to  reform  Kansas  ac 
cording  to  "  law  and  order."  Unfortunately  the 
historical  fact  is  that  democratic  republics  are  more 
given  to  revolutions  than  nations  that  are  governed 
in  other  ways.  It  is  also  questionable  whether  the 
United  States  of  America  could  be  considered  a 
democracy  in  1858.  It  was  a  democracy  in  form, 
but  an  oligarchy  in  fact  It  had  been  coming  to 
this  for  the  past  thirty  years.  The  slaveholders  had 

165 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

almost  complete  control  over  the  national  govern 
ment,  and  managed  the  affairs  of  the  nation  with 
out  regard  to  the  true  interests  of  the  people.  They 
even  stormed  that  citadel  of  justice,  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  converted  it  into  a  pro-slavery  fortifi 
cation. 

In  1860  the  American  people  reasserted  their 
sovereignty,  and  a  revolution  came;  but  it  was 
John  Brown  who  opened  the  way  for  it. 

Kansas  affairs  had  almost  ceased  to  attract  at 
tention  in  the  East ;  but  Mr.  Stearns'  watchful  eyes 
were  upon  them  still.  Advices  from  his  corre 
spondents  in  the  territory  notified  him  that  a  crisis 
was  at  hand.  The  Missourians  had  not  interfered 
in  the  last  election,  but  a  legislature  had  been  chosen 
under  the  pro-slavery  Lecompton  Constitution, 
which  claimed  to  be  legally  elected,  although  it 
received  a  small  minority  of  votes,  and  was  so 
recognized  by  the  government  at  Washington. 
Daring  as  Mr.  Stearns  was,  he  never  trusted  to 
fortune  so  long  as  hand  and  brain  would  serve  him ; 
and  accordingly  he  called  a  meeting  of  the  Kansas 
Aid  Committee,  for  the  last  Saturday  of  March, 
and  wrote  to  Mr.  Sanborn  as  follows: 

"  We  have  decided  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  Massachusetts 
Kansas  Executive  Committee  on  Saturday  next  at  12  M. 
to  take  into  consideration  the  present  state  of  affairs,  and 
what  measures  we  can  adopt  to  aid  them  if  the  Lecompton 
Constitution  becomes  a  law.  I  hope  you  will  be  present." 

To  \vhich  Mr.  Sanborn  replied: 

"DEAR  FRIEND: 

"  It  will  not  be  convenient  for  me  to  attend  the  meeting 
to-morrow,  nor  do  I  see  what  we  can  do  as  a  committee  in 

166 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

the  present  state  of  affairs.  If  75,000  people  who  have  sworn 
to  resist  the  Lecompton  fraud  cannot  do  so  successfully, 
we  as  a  committee  cannot  help  them.  They  will  yield  to 
the  administration  or  there  will  be  a  fight — in  either  case  our 
present  committee  could  not  assist  them  much.  I  think  the 
administration  will  give  in — because  I  believe  they  must. 
Still,  any  measures  which  the  majority  of  the  committee 
should  adopt  would  have  my  entire  cooperation,  I  have  no 
doubt. 

"  Yours  ever, 

"F.   B.  SANBORN." 

This  proved  in  the  end  to  be  a  true  prediction; 
but  what  the  committee  decided  on  at  that  juncture 
we  are  not  informed. 

The  Boston  committee  was  soon  obliged,  how 
ever,  to  take  measures  in  regard  to  a  more  im 
portant  affair.  Hugh  Forbes,  having  failed  to 
extract  hush-money  from  Mr.  Stearns'  friends, 
concluded  to  revenge  himself  by  giving  informa 
tion  of  Captain  Brown's  plans  to  Wilson,  Seward, 
and  other  leaders  of  the  Republican  party,  and,  not 
succeeding  in  attracting  attention  to  himself  in  this 
manner,  he  finally  betrayed  Brown's  plans  to 
Buchanan's  cabinet.  Having  thus  alienated  the 
very  persons  who  might  have  been  willing  to  assist 
him  in  an  honest  way,  Hugh  Forbes  disappeared 
in  the  great  abyss  of  ruined  reputations. 

The  national  administration  took  no  measures  in 
regard  to  Forbes'  disclosures,  probably  thinking 
that  his  statements  were  too  incoherent  to  deserve 
attention.  Neither  did  Seward,  as  far  as  we  know, 
trouble  himself  about  them;  but  Wilson  was  wor 
ried.  Better  informed  than  the  others,  he  knew 
that  John  Brown  and  George  L.  Stearns  intended 

167 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

serious  business,  and  he  was  anxious  as  to  the  effect 
of  what  they  might  do  on  the  prospects  of  the 
Republican  party. 

On  May  n,  when  Dr.  Howe  entered  his  office, 
he  found  the  following  letter  on  his  desk: 

"DEAR  SIR: 

"  I  write  you  to  say  that  you  had  better  talk  with  some 
few  of  our  friends  who  contributed  money  to  aid  old 
Brown  to  organize  and  arm  some  force  in  Kansas  for 
defence,  about  the  policy  of  getting  those  arms  out  of  his 
hands  and  putting  them  in  the  hands  of  some  reliable  men 
in  that  territory. 

"If  they  should  be  used  for  other  purposes,  as  rumor 
says  they  may  be,  it  might  be  of  disadvantage  to  the  men 
who  were  induced  to  contribute  to  that  very  foolish  move 
ment.  If  it  can  be  done,  get  the  arms  out  of  his  control  and 
keep  clear  of  him  at  least  for  the  present.  This  is  in  con 
fidence.  "  HENRY  WILSON."  * 

The  difficulty  of  distinguishing  between  the  acts 
of  the  Kansas  Aid  Committee  and  of  its  individual 
members  has  already  been  noticed.  Senator  Wil 
son  was  not  aware  that  Mr.  Stearns  had  purchased 
the  rifles  of  which  John  Brown  held  possession; 
nor  would  it  do  to  inform  him  of  this  for  fear 
of  exciting  still  graver  suspicions.  In  like  manner, 
to  inform  all  the  subscribers  to  the  Kansas  fund 
of  this  would  seem  like  a  piece  of  supererogation. 
It  was  decided,  therefore,  to  go  through  the  form 
of  reclaiming  the  rifles  from  John  Brown,  and 
then  to  deliver  them  to  Mr.  Stearns  as  their  proper 
owner.  What  Mr.  Stearns  might  do  with  them  as 
a  private  individual  was  no  concern  of  Senator 

*  Sanborn's  "  John  Brown." 
168 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Wilson  or  of  any  other  person.  Accordingly,  on 
May  14,  Mr.  Stearns  wrote  to  John  Brown  at 
Chatham,  Canada  West: 

"DEAR  SIR: 

"  Enclosed  please  find  a  copy  of  a  letter  from  Hon.  Henry 
Wilson.  You  will  recollect  that  you  have  the  custody  of  the 
arms  alluded  to,  to  be  used  for  the  defence  of  Kansas,  as 
agent  of  the  Massachusetts  State  Kansas  Committee.  In 
consequence  of  the  information  thus  communicated  to  me, 
it  becomes  my  duty  to  warn  you  not  to  use  them  for  any 
other  purpose,  and  to  hold  them  subject  to  my  order  as 
Chairman  of  said  Committee.  A  member  of  our  Committee 
will  be  at  Chatham  early  in  the  coming  week  to  confer 
with  you  as  to  the  best  mode  of  disposing  of  them. 
"  Truly  your  friend, 

"  GEORGE  L.  STEARNS." 

John  Brown's  reply  from  Chatham  was  equal  to 
the  occasion.  He  said: 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  : 

"  Your  much  prized  letter  of  the  I4th  inst.  is  received. 
I  have  only  time  to  say  at  this  moment  that  as  it  is  an 
invariable  rule  with  me  to  be  governed  by  circumstances, 
or  in  other  words  not  to  do  anything  while  I  do  not  know 
what  to  do,  none  of  our  friends  need  to  have  any  fears  in 
relation  to  hasty  or  rash  steps  being  taken  by  us.  As 
knowledge  is  said  to  be  power,  we  propose  to  become  pos 
sessed  of  more  knowledge.  We  have  many  reasons  for 
begging  our  eastern  friends  to  keep  clear  of  F.  personally, 
unless  he  throws  himself  upon  them.  We  have  those  who 
are  thoroughly  posted  up,  to  put  on  his  track;  and  we 
humbly  beg  to  be  allowed  to  do  so.  We  also  beg  our 
friends  to  supply  us  with  two  or  three  hundred  dollars 
without  delay,  pledging  ourselves  not  to  act  other  than 
to  secure  perfect  knowledge  of  facts,  in  regard  to  what 
F.  has  really  done,  and  will  do,  until  we  may  ourselves 
know  how  we  ought  to  act.  None  of  us  here  or  with  you 

169 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

should  be  hasty,  or  decide  the  course  to  be  taken,  while 
under  an  excitement.  '  In  all  thy  ways  acknowledge  Him, 
and  He  shall  direct  thy  paths.' " 

Like  all  strong  actors  in  the  world's  history, 
John  Brown  was  a  strong  believer.  What  could 
a  flippant  sceptic,  or  an  English  positivist,  have 
accomplished  in  the  defence  of  Kansas?  They 
would  have  run  at  the  first  fire. 

On  May  15  Mr.  Stearns  wrote  to  Brown  again, 
saying : 

"DEAR  SIR: 

"  I  wrote  to  you  yesterday  informing  you  that  a  member 
of  the  M.  S.  K.  Com.  would  visit  you  at  Chatham  to  confer 
about  the  delivery  of  the  arms  you  hold. 

"  As  I  can  find  no  one  who  can  spare  the  time,  I  have 
to  request  that  you  will  meet  me  in  New  York  City  some 
time  next  week.  A  letter  to  me  directed  to  Care  of  John 
Hopper,  no  Broadway,  N.  Y.,  will  be  in  season.  Come  as 
early  as  you  can.  Our  Committee  will  pay  your  expenses. 
"  Truly  yours,  "  GEO.  L.  STEARNS." 

Meanwhile  Dr.  Howe  had  undertaken  to  quiet 
Senator  Wilson's  apprehensions.  He  wrote  to  him 
on  the  1 2th  : 

"DEAR  SIR: 

"  I  have  just  received  your  letter  of  the  gth,  and  I  under- 
stand  perfectly  your  meaning.  No  countenance  has  been 
given  to  Brown  for  any  operations  outside  of  Kansas  by 
the  Kansas  Committee.  I  had  occasion,  a  few  days  ago,  to 
send  him  an  earnest  message  from  some  of  his  friends 
here,  urging  him  to  go  at  once  to  Kansas  and  take  part 
in  the  coming  election,  and  throw  the  might  of  his  influence 
on  the  side  of  the  right."  * 

*  Sanborn's  "  John  Brown,"  p.  462. 
170 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

When,  however,  the  Harper's  Ferry  invasion  took 
place,  Wilson  considered  that  he  had  been  grossly 
deceived,  and  was  very  indignant.  He  even  went 
so  far  as  to  say  that  he  did  not  care  if  Howe  and 
Stearns  were  hung  for  it.  He  could  not  have 
seriously  meant  this ;  for  a  year  later  he  was  cordial 
and  friendly  to  both  of  them.  He  never  could 
understand,  however,  that  this  whole  manoeuvre 
was  intended,  not  to  deceive,  but  to  undeceive,  him. 
Wilson  had  very  naturally  acquired  the  notion  that 
the  funds  of  the  Kansas  Aid  Committee  would  be 
misappropriated  for  the  revolutionary  schemes 
which  Forbes  had  disclosed.  He  was  not  aware 
that  the  funds  of  the  committee  had  become  ex 
hausted  in  the  summer  of  1857,  and  that  Mr. 
Stearns  had  taken  the  rifles  as  security  or  in  ex 
change  for  money  he  had  advanced  to  the  commit 
tee  ;  and  this  money  had  been  used  for  a  legitimate 
purpose — namely,  the  support  of  Brown  on  the 
Kansas  frontier.  That  this  transaction  does  not 
appear  in  the  records  of  the  committee  is  easily 
explained.  After  the  funds  had  been  expended, 
the  treasurer,  Patrick  T.  Jackson,  balanced  and 
closed  his  accounts  and  resigned  his  position. 

If  Senator  Wilson  had  written  more  frankly  to 
Dr.  Howe  concerning  Forbes'  disclosures,  he  would 
have  placed  the  conspirators  in  a  pretty  difficult 
position ;  but  since  he  confined  himself  to  a  definite 
line  of  argument,  Messrs.  Howe  and  Stearns  felt 
justified  in  meeting  him  on  that  ground  alone. 
What  they  might  do  as  private  individuals  was 
another  matter. 


171 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

NOTE. — The  only  evidence  we  have  of  Hugh  Forbes' 
pretended  revelations  comes  from  the  testimonies  of  Senator 
Seward  and  Secretary  of  War  Floyd,  before  the  Harper's 
Ferry  Investigating  Committee,  and  its  character  is  vague 
and  contradictory.  Seward  stated: 

"  He  said,  further,  that  in  the  course  of  their  conversa 
tions  as  to  the  plan  by  which  they  should  more  effectually 
counteract  this  invasion — whether  it  was  then  there,  or 
whether  it  was  expected,  I  did  not  know — he  (Forbes)  sug 
gested  the  getting  up  of  a  stampede  of  slaves  secretly  on 
the  borders  of  Kansas,  in  Missouri,  which  Brown  disap 
proved,  and  on  his  part  suggested  an  attack  upon  the  border 
states,  with  a  view  to  induce  the  slaves  to  rise  and  so  to 
keep  the  invaders  at  home  to  take  care  of  themselves.  He 
said  that  in  their  conversations  Brown  gave  up  and  aban 
doned  his  own  project  as  impracticable,  and  that  soon  after 
the  disturbances  in  the  territory  became  quiet  and  ceased, 
and  there  was  no  longer  anything  for  him  to  do  there.  He 
was  penniless  and  Brown  refused  to  pay  him  anything. 
He  could  not  stay ;  he  could  not  get  back  to  New  York." 

Floyd  stated  that  he  had  received  an  anonymous  letter 
dated  Cincinnati,  August  20,  which  contained  the  following 
passage : 

"  I  have  discovered  the  existence  of  a  secret  association, 
having  for  its  object  the  liberation  of  the  slaves  at  the 
South  by  a  general  insurrection.  The  leader  of  the  move 
ment  is  '  Old  John  Brown/  late  of  Kansas.  He  has  been 
in  Canada  during  the  winter,  drilling  the  negroes  there, 
and  they  are  only  waiting  his  word  to  start  for  the  South 
to  assist  the  slaves.  They  have  one  of  their  leading  men 
(a  white  man)  in  an  armory  in  Maryland — where  it  is 
situated  I  have  not  been  able  to  learn.  As  soon  as  every 
thing  is  ready,  those  of  their  number  who  are  in  the 
Northern  States  and  Canada  are  to  come  in  small  companies 
to  their  rendezvous,  which  is  in  the  mountains  in  Virginia. 
They  will  pass  down  through  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland, 
and  enter  Virginia  at  Harper's  Ferry.  Brown  left  the 
North  about  three  or  four  weeks  ago,  and  will  arm  the 
negroes  and  strike  the  blow  in  a  few  weeks;  so  that  what- 

172 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

ever  is  done  must  be  done  at  once.  They  have  a  large 
quantity  of  arms  at  their  rendezvous,  and  are  probably  dis 
tributing  them  already." 

Both  Seward's  and  Floyd's  statements  have  a 
kind  of  value;  for  the  former  substantiates  the 
explanation  we  have  already  given  in  regard  to 
John  Brown's  position  at  Tabor,  Iowa,  in  the 
autumn  of  1856,  and  the  latter  agrees  closely  with 
the  original  plan,  which,  as  has  been  stated,  Brown 
placed  before  the  Boston  conference  in  the  follow 
ing  spring. 


173 


XI 

BUILDING  A  HOUSE 

JOHN  BROWN  did  not  keep  the  appointment  with 
Mr.  Stearns  in  New  York.  As  Mr.  Stearns  told 
the  Investigating  Committee  of  the  Senate  in  Feb 
ruary,  1860:  "I  was  in  New  York  and  he  did 
not  come  there ;  "  and  when  the  examiners  asked : 
"  Did  you  have  any  communication  with  him  on 
the  subject  of  these  arms,  after  the  date  of  these 
letters  on  the  I4th  and  I5th  of  May?  "  he  replied: 
"  Once  only,  when  I  asked  him  where  they  were, 
and  he  told  me  that  they  were  stored  in  Ohio; 
exactly  when  I  cannot  recollect."  Mr.  Stearns 
had  performed  his  part  of  the  obligation,  and  John 
Brown  kept  the  arms  without  making  further  in 
quiries. 

It  may  be  wondered  how  much  Charles  Sumner 
knew  concerning  this  enterprise,  in  which  his  most 
intimate  friends  were  engaged.  It  is  probable  that 
he  knew  nothing  directly,  and  indirectly  suspected 
a  good  deal.  Sumner  was  not  more  bold  than  he 
was  prudent,  and  the  reserve  which  he  maintained 
after  his  return  from  Europe  was  as  statesman 
like  as  were  the  vehement  utterances  of  his 
preceding  term.  The  two  greatest  heroes  of  the 
antislavery  struggle  never  met  but  once.  It  would 
seem  to  have  been  during  Brown's  first  visit  to 
Boston,  and  previous  to  Sumner's  departure  for 
Europe,  that  James  Redpath  went  with  Brown  to 

i74 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

call  on  Sumner  at  his  house  on  Hancock  Street; 
and  we  only  know  further  that  Sumner  brought 
out  the  blood-stained  coat  which  he  was  wearing 
when  Brooks  assaulted  him — a  spectacle  stimu 
lating  enough  to  the  daily  current  of  Captain 
Brown's  ideas.  Sumner  was,  nevertheless,  too  well 
versed  in  history  not  to  recognize  the  value  which 
irregular  political  methods  often  have.  Like  Gar 
rison,  he  was  a  man  of  peace,  but  he  did  not  allow 
his  philanthropy  to  get  the  better  of  his  judgment. 

George  L.  Stearns  was  now  in  his  fiftieth  year, 
and  he  had  never  yet  spent  money  on  himself,  and 
little  on  his  own  family.  His  life  had  been  an 
incessant  labor  for  the  benefit  of  others,  in  which, 
indeed,  he  had  found  great  enjoyment;  but  now 
that  Kansas  affairs  were  progressing  favorably  and 
his  mill-wheels  were  rolling  as  steadily  as  ever,  he 
concluded  to  build  himself  a  new  house,  and  there 
could  be  no  more  pleasant  diversion  for  a  person 
of  his  constructive  faculty. 

The  growth  of  his  family  would  soon  make  this 
a  necessity,  for  the  old  brick  mansion  in  which  he 
lived,  though  spacious  enough  on  the  ground  floor, 
was  much  too  narrow  and  contracted  in  the  upper 
story.  One  evening  in  June  he  sent  for  his  car 
penter,  and  the  two  sat  down  at  the  dining-room 
table  together. 

They  seemed  to  find  the  problem  a  difficult  one, 
for  after  discussing  till  nearly  ten  o'clock  the  car 
penter  finally  said  to  Mr.  Stearns :  "  In  order  to 
do  what  you  want,  you  will  have  to  tear  away 
every  stick  of  timber  that  is  in  this  house;  and  if 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

you  are  going  to  have  this  new-fashioned  hard 
finish,  you  had  better  consult  an  architect." 

Mr.  Stearns  never  had  any  work  done  by  con 
tract.  He  told  his  wife :  "  If  I  should  have  this 
house  rebuilt  by  contract  I  should  not  feel  that  the 
lives  of  my  wife  and  children  were  safe  while  I 
was  away  from  home.  It  is  the  contract  system 
which  makes  bad  flues  and  leaky  roofs.  I  prefer 
to  be  cheated  in  my  pocket  rather  than  on  the  work 
that  is  done  for  me." 

His  choice  of  an  architect  was  fortunate.  At 
the  antislavery  fairs  Mrs.  Stearns  had  become 
acquainted  with  Mrs.  Follen,  the  widow  of  Pro 
fessor  Follen  of  Harvard  College,  who,  as  his  wife 
always  insisted,  had  been  dismissed  from  the  Uni 
versity  for  expressing  antislavery  sentiments.  In 
fact,  there  was  no  other  cause  to  be  assigned  for  it, 
for  he  was  one  of  the  ablest  instructors  there.  Mrs. 
Follen's  son  was  an  architect  and  came  from  a 
family  of  architects — the  Cabot  family,  who  had 
introduced  a  style  of  domestic  architecture  which 
was  known  by  their  name.  Charles  Follen  had 
studied  in  Paris  and  Berlin,  and  Mr.  Stearns  liked 
him.  He  preferred  a  young  man  who  would  be 
willing  to  adapt  himself  to  his  own  ideas  rather 
than  a  man  of  established  reputation,  who  would 
attempt  to  patronize  him.  He  did  not  wish  for  a 
fashionable  architect. 

Charles  Follen  was  a  man  of  the  most  perfect 
good  taste,  which  he  indicated  in  his  dress,  man 
ners,  and  conversation.  He  made  such  a  success 
of  Mr.  Stearns'  new  house  that  he  afterward 
obtained  a  number  of  orders  from  wealthy  Bos- 

176 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

tonians  in  consequence  of  it.  Gentlemen  called  at 
Mr.  Stearns'  office  and  asked  permission  to  bring 
their  wives  to  look  at  it.  Mr.  Pollen  accomplished 
this  favorable  effect  by  using  the  best  materials 
without  the  least  luxury  of  ornament.  There  were 
no  ogee  curves,  no  white  ceilings,  and  no  marble 
fireplaces.  The  work  began  in  September  and  con 
tinued  all  winter;  and  meanwhile  the  Stearns  fam 
ily  lived  in  a  neighboring  cottage  in  quite  an  humble 
and  economical  manner.  George  L.  Stearns  did 
not  return  to  his  own  roof  until  the  following  May. 

He  had  paid  small  attention  to  the  fine  arts,  but 
he  now  displayed  remarkably  good  taste  in  such 
matters.  A  bronze  clock  was  wanted  for  the  li 
brary,  and  the  one  he  selected — a  figure  of  Minerva 
with  the  dial  upon  her  shield,  made  perhaps  by  some 
youthful  French  genius — could  not  be  surpassed 
for  grace  and  elegance. 

The  house  was  never  sufficiently  appreciated  on 
account  of  Mrs.  Stearns'  objection  to  large  parties. 
The  uncertainty  of  her  health  may  have  been  the 
chief  reason  for  this.  Of  distinguished  guests 
there  were  enough,  and  most  of  the  celebrated  men 
and  women  of  the  eastern  cities  crossed  its  thresh 
old  sooner  or  later.  It  was  an  oasis  of  refinement 
and  culture,  where  poets,  orators,  painters,  and 
statesmen  came  together  to  exchange  ideas,  and 
mutually  benefit  by  one  another's  influence.  At 
that  time  there  was  no  other  house  like  it,  in  or 
about  Boston,  except  the  poet  Longfellow's. 

Not  long  after  this  Mrs.  Child  published  a  story 
in  which  a  rich  young  man  was  represented  as 
emigrating  to  the  West,  where  he  preferred  to 
12  177 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

live  in  a  log  cabin  like  his  neighbors,  rather  than 
to  excite  their  jealousy  by  a  display  of  superior 
wealth.  Mr.  Stearns  thought  the  story  might  be 
intended  for  his  benefit. 

As  he  obtained  his  wealth  by  means  of  a  mo 
nopoly,  he  felt  it  as  a  sort  of  duty  to  return  to  the 
world  what  he  extracted  from  it  in  that  manner. 
Emerson  complained  to  him  that  the  water-works 
which  he  had  introduced  into  his  house  at  Concord 
cost  much  more  than  he  expected — nearly  twice  as 
much  as  the  estimates.  "  Why  did  you  not  come  to 
me  ?  "  said  Mr.  Stearns ;  "  I  could  have  saved  you  a 
large  part  of  the  expense."  Emerson  had  not 
thought  of  that;  "  he  wanted  to  employ  a  Concord 
man."  Mr.  Stearns  explained  to  him  that  plumb 
ers,  carpenters,  and  masons  were  obliged  to  greatly 
underestimate  the  cost  of  their  work,  for  if  they 
did  not,  some  sharper  would  be  certain  to  do  so 
and  get  their  job  away  from  them.  That  men 
should  be  obliged  to  deceive  in  order  to  earn  an 
honest  living  was  a  new  idea  to  Emerson,  and  one 
which  he  evidently  did  not  relish. 

A  prodigy  now  appeared  in  the  sky  which  inter 
ested  Mr.  Stearns  not  much  less  than  its  discoverer. 
Donati's  comet  first  became  visible  to  the  naked 
eye  in  the  last  days  of  August,  1858,  as  a  small  star 
in  the  handle  of  the  great  dipper.  From  that  it 
grew  apace,  until  by  the  first  of  October  it  filled 
the  western  sky  from  the  horizon  nearly  to  the 
zenith.  Its  broad  cimeter-shaped  tail  was  com 
puted  to  be  nearly  eighty  millions  of  miles  in  length. 
It  was  the  largest,  as  well  as  the  most  perfect, 
comet  that  had  appeared  since  1680,  and  the  pre- 
178 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

diction  of  astronomers  that  it  would  never  return 
to  the  sun  again,  or  only  after  thousands  of  years, 
increased  the  awe  with  which  it  was  regarded. 

That  Mr.  Stearns  should  have  gone  out  every 
evening  to  look  at  it  was  only  what  most  others 
did,  but  he  also  read  everything  that  he  could  find 
concerning  comets,  and  was  much  impressed  by 
the  fact  that  the  popular  superstition  in  regard  to 
large  comets  was  not  without  inductive  evidence; 
for  all  the  great  comets  that  have  appeared  have 
been  closely  followed  by  devastating  wars.  Mr. 
Stearns  thought  that  there  might  be  some  occult 
influence  in  cometary  matter — which  is  much 
lighter  than  the  air  we  breathe — apart  from  the 
visual  effect  upon  the  mind.  Yet  this  was  a  purely 
speculative  theory.  Mr.  Stearns  was  not  a  super 
stitious  man,  and  paid  no  attention  whatever  to 
signs  and  omens. 

In  September,  1858,  the  Massachusetts  Kansas 
Aid  committee  wound  up  its  affairs,  finding  no 
further  occasion  for  its  existence ;  and  the  secretary, 
Mr.  Sanborn,  submitted  a  report  which  did  not 
differ  essentially  from  the  statements  already  made. 
This  left  Senator  Wilson  without  any  further 
ground  for  complaint. 

The  Lincoln  and  Douglas  debate  in  the  autumn 
of  1858  attracted  less  attention  in  the  East  from 
the  fact  that  it  was  considered  practically  imma 
terial  whether  Douglas  was  defeated  or  not.  Very 
few  went  to  the  same  length  as  Horace  Greeley, 
who  openly  supported  the  election  of  Douglas  as  a 
piece  of  political  finesse,  but  it  was  easy  for  the 
shrewder  sort  to  see  that  Douglas  was  in  the  posi- 

179 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

tion  of  an  engineer  who  cannot  escape  the  explo 
sion  of  his  own  mine.  He  had  brought  forward 
the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  as  a  means  of  gaining 
the  presidency,  and  now  it  was  exactly  that  meas 
ure  which  proved  the  greatest  obstacle  to  his  ambi 
tion.  I  never  heard  Mr.  Stearns  speak  of  this 
debate,  either  then  or  later. 

Meanwhile  John  Brown  was  waiting  in  Kansas 
for  cold  weather  to  come.  In  the  second  week  of 
December  he  invaded  southwestern  Missouri  and 
carried  off  twelve  or  fifteen  slaves,  with  a  number 
of  horses  and  other  small  property,  to  compensate, 
as  he  claimed,  for  the  arrears  of  wages  due  to  them. 
One  of  the  slaveholders  who  threatened  them  with 
firearms  was  shot  by  Kagi,  John  Brown's  best  man 
and  a  perfect  daredevil.  Brown  was  obliged  to 
traverse  the  whole  extent  of  eastern  Kansas  with  his 
living  booty,  and  a  pretended  attempt  was  made  to 
arrest  him ;  but  it  would  seem  to  have  been  merely 
a  pretense,  for  the  sheriff  and  his  posse  comitatus 
fled  at  the  first  sight  of  Brown's  approach.  In  like 
manner  the  citizens  of  Tabor,  Iowa,  issued  a  pro 
test  against  Brown's  proceedings;  but  this  did  not 
prevent  him  from  selling  his  horses  there  in  spite  of 
their  defective  title,  and  dividing  the  proceeds 
among  his  fugitives.  The  indignation  of  the  West 
ern  farmers  at  the  attempt  to  force  slavery  upon 
Kansas  was  so  great,  that  they  were  ready  to  con 
done  anything  in  the  way  of  retaliation. 

This  affair  produced  great  excitement  in  the 
Southern  states,  which,  however,  quickly  subsided; 
and  in  the  North  it  did  not  attract  so  much  atten 
tion  as  might  have  been  expected.  The  Republican 

180 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

papers  naturally  avoided  the  subject,  and  Kansas 
had  long  since  become  treacherous  ground  for  the 
Northern  Democrats.  The  Governor  of  Missouri 
offered  a  reward  of  two  thousand  dollars  for  the 
apprehension  of  Brown,  who  made  no  attempt  to 
conceal  his  identity,  so  that  from  this  time  forth 
he  became  practically  an  outlaw.  Yet  no  effort 
was  ever  made  to  arrest  him. 

The  second  Monday  in  January,  1859,  there  was 
a  notable  skating-party  at  Concord  on  Walden 
Pond,  which  on  that  day  was  smooth  as  a  mirror. 
Mr.  Stearns  was  present,  enjoying  the  exercise  as 
he  might  have  done  thirty  years  before  on  the 
Middlesex  Canal.  He  spent  most  of  the  afternoon 
skating  and  talking  with  Emerson  and  Thoreau; 
and  the  fact  is  significant  of  future  events.  Nine 
months  later,  when  John  Brown  was  lying  in  a 
Virginia  prison  loaded  with  ox-chains,  Emerson 
and  Thoreau  were  the  first  to  come  forward  and 
say  to  the  astonished  world :  "  He  is  not  a  mad 
man,  but  a  saint." 

John  Brown  and  George  L.  Stearns  met  and 
parted  for  the  last  time  in  May,  1859.  Brown's 
movements  were  always  very  secretive,  and  Mr. 
Stearns  suddenly  came  upon  him  dining  at  the  Bird 
Club,  and  who  introduced  him  there  Mr.  Stearns 
did  not  know.  They  were  together  only  for  a  few 
hours  and  no  business  of  importance  would  seem 
to  have  been  transacted  between  them.  When 
John  Brown  was  about  to  leave  for  Canada  he  gave 
Mr.  Stearns  the  pearl-handled  bowie-knife,  which 

181 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

had  been  presented  to  H.  Clay  Pate,  by  his  fellow- 
citizens,  and  which  Brown  had  taken  from  him  at 
Black  Jack,  and  said :  "  I  am  going  on  a  danger 
ous  errand  and  we  may  never  see  each  other  again. 
I  wish  you  would  accept  this  as  a  parting  gift." 
He  had  come  to  Boston  to  say  farewell  to  his 
friends — those  ideal  friends  whose  acquaintance 
had  been  the  longing  of  his  hard,  laborious  life, 
and  whose  encouragement  was  his  chief  consola 
tion.  At  this  very  time  Wasson  was  composing: 

"  Oh,  happy  dreams  of  such  a  soul  have  I, 
And  softly  to  my  heart  of  him  I  sing, 
Whose  seraph  pride  all  pride  doth  overwing, 
Soars  unto  meekness,  reaches  low  by  high, 
And,  as  in  grand  equalities  of  the  sky, 

Stands  level  with  the  beggar  and  the  king." 


182 


XII 
HARPER'S  FERRY 

"  How  cautiously  most  men  sink  into  nameless  graves, 
while  now  and  then  one  forgets  himself  into  immortality." 

Wendell  Phillips. 

MR.  STEARNS'  house  was  not  finished  until  June, 
and  he  spent  most  of  the  summer  enjoying  the 
comfort  of  it,  planting  elms  on  his  avenue  and  the 
like.  George  S.  Hillard  came  out  from  Boston  to 
spend  an  evening  on  his  piazza,  and  "  drink  the  cup 
that  cheers  but  not  inebriates ;  "  and  in  spite  of  their 
political  differences,  which  were  steadily  growing 
more  divergent,  they  made  a  very  pleasant  occasion 
of  it.  Mrs.  Hillard  agreed  with  Mr.  Stearns,  as 
did  also  her  brother,  Dr.  Estes  Howe,  of  Cam 
bridge,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Bird  Club  and 
came  to  taste  Mr.  Stearns'  Hungarian  wine. 

One  day  Mr.  Stearns  came  home  with  a  red  duo 
decimo  in  his  hand.  It  was  Helper's  "  Impending 
Crisis."  "  Here  is  a  book,"  he  said,  "  written  by 
a  Southerner  against  slavery  as  a  practical  insti 
tution,  from  the  white  man's  standpoint.  He 
proves  by  facts  and  figures  that  it  is  an  economical 
injury  to  the  Southern  states.  The  book  is  creat 
ing  a  great  sensation.  Horace  Greeley  has  got 
hold  of  it  and  is  making  the  most  of  it."  Mr. 
Stearns  usually  laughed  when  he  spoke  of  Horace 
Greeley,  on  account  of  his  original  ways  and  meth 
ods,  but  he  really  held  him  in  great  respect. 

183 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

It  is  safe  to  presume  that  Mr.  Stearns  was  not 
insensible  to  the  unfairness  of  Helper's  comparison 
between  the  North  and  the  South,  in  which  he 
failed  to  consider  the  differences  of  climate,  local 
industries,  and  commercial  advantages ;  but  Helper 
was  equally  correct  in  his  argument  that  slavery 
prevented  immigration  to  the  Southern  states — 
which  was  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  prosperity 
in  the  North — and  that  it  placed  the  lower  middle 
class  of  the  South  at  a  great  disadvantage.  The 
better  sort  of  artisans  had  to  be  imported  from  the 
North,  and  carried  back  with  them  the  wages  they 
had  earned.* 

That  such  treachery  should  have  originated  in 
their  own  midst  was  highly  exasperating  to  the 
slaveocracy,  and  the  Southern  press  could  not  be 
blamed  for  describing  Helper's  book  as  an  incen 
diary  and  revolutionary  publication ;  but  the  whole 
country  was  now  in  a  revolutionary  condition,  and 
smoking  as  it  were  with  subterranean  fires,  which 
would  soon  break  out  into  a  general  conflagration. 
No  wonder  that  it  was  so. 

The  antislavery  agitation  of  Lundy  and  Garrison 
was  revolutionary ;  for  they  proposed  to  have  prop 
erty  taken  from  its  owners  without  compensation. 

The  mobbing  of  Garrison  in  Boston,  and  still 

*  Henry  C.  Carey,  the  political  economist,  told  Mr.  Stearns 
that  he  once  went  to  the  Virginia  delegation  at  Washington 
and  said  to  them :  "  The  people  of  your  state  do  not  know 
their  true  interests.  Virginia  ought  to  be  one  of  the  great 
manufacturing  states  of  the  Union;  but  you  all  have  a 
nigger  so  close  to  your  eye  that  you  can't  see  a  mountain 
if  it  is  a  little  way  off." 

184 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

more,  the  murder  of  Lovejoy  at  Alton,  111.,  were 
revolutionary  acts;  for  they  were  directed  against 
the  fundamental  principles  of  free  institutions. 

The  Mexican  war  was  revolutionary,  as  all  wars 
for  conquest  are  and  must  be. 

The  Fugitive  Slave  Bill  was  revolutionary;  for 
it  suspended  the  right  of  habeas  corpus  and  of  trial 
by  jury. 

The  personal  liberty  bills  passed  by  the  legisla 
tures  of  Northern  states  were  revolutionary;  for 
they  nullified  the  action  of  the  national  government. 

The  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  was  a  revolutionary 
act ;  for  it  was  a  forcible  dissolution  of  a  legal  con 
tract  contrary  to  the  wishes  of  one  of  the  contract 
ing  parties. 

The  attempt  to  force  the  antislavery  settlers  in 
Kansas  to  leave  the  state  was  another  revolutionary 
act;  and  the  counter-movements  of  John  Brown 
and  his  Boston  friends  were  necessarily  revolu 
tionary. 

The  Dred  Scott  decision  was  revolutionary;  for 
its  object  was  to  overturn  the  very  citadel  of 
justice. 

Men  do  not  exist  for  government  but  vice  versa; 
and  the  abuse  of  official  power  during  the  adminis 
trations  of  Pierce  and  Buchanan  had  brought  the 
government  of  the  United  States  into  such  con 
tempt  with  honest  men  that  obedience  to  it  was 
no  longer  considered  a  virtue,  and  a  large  propor 
tion  of  the  people  in  the  Northern  states  were 
ready  to  welcome  a  direct  and  open  resistance  to  it. 

Hay  and  Nicolay,  in  their  Life  of  Lincoln,  make 
the  remark  in  reference  to  John  Brown's  raid,  that 

185 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

in  a  "  republic  all  reforms  should  proceed  accord 
ing  to  law  and  order."  Webster  held  a  different 
opinion ;  and  not  only  Webster,  but  Blackstone.  In 
his  reply  to  Hayne  the  former  said:  Such  resist 
ance  is  not  only  acknowledged  to  be  just  in  Amer 
ica,  but  in  England  also  Blackstone  admits  as 
much,  in  the  theory,  and  practice,  too,  of  the 
English  constitution.  "  We  sir,  who  oppose  the 
Carolina  doctrine,  do  not  deny  that  the  people  may, 
if  they  choose,  throw  off  any  government  when  it 
becomes  oppressive  and  intolerable.  We  all  know 
that  civil  institutions  are  established  for  the  public 
benefit,  and  that  when  they  cease  to  answer  the  ends 
of  their  existence  they  may  be  changed.  But  I  do 
not  understand  the  doctrine  now  contended  for 
to  be  that  which,  for  the  sake  of  distinction,  we 
may  call  the  right  of  revolution." 

Whether  Blackstone  and  Webster  are  higher 
authorities  than  Hay  and  Nicolay  can  be  safely  left 
to  the  decision  of  the  reader ;  but  Webster's  admis 
sion  of  the  right  of  revolution  and  the  violability 
of  government  acquires  additional  force  from  the 
fact  that  it  was  made  in  an  argument  in  support 
of  the  authority  of  government  against  nullifica 
tion.  That  there  should  always  be  a  difference  of 
opinion  in  regard  to  the  justification  of  revolution, 
revolutionary  attempts,  or  single  revolutionary 
acts,  is  unavoidable,  for  no  rule  or  measure  can 
be  laid  down  by  which  they  can  be  judged.  Every 
man  must  decide  according  to  his  own  conscience. 

It  will  be  seen  that  Webster's  "  right  of  revolu 
tion  "  does  not  differ  essentially  from  Seward's 
"  higher  law,"  although  Webster  at  the  time  could 

186 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

not  discover  this  even  above  the  Alleghanies.  John 
Brown  justified  his  own  acts  by  the  Golden  Rule 
and  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

In  the  morning  papers  of  October  19,  it  was 
reported  by  telegraph  that  a  band  of  lawless  ruf 
fians  had  seized  Harper's  Ferry,  Virginia,  and  were 
masters  of  the  town.  The  next  morning,  Tuesday, 
came  the  news  that  John  Brown  was  wounded  and 
captured,  and  that  all  his  men  were  either  captured 
or  killed. 

George  L.  Stearns  went  at  once  to  Dr.  Howe's 
office  and  found  him  very  much  agitated.  There 
were  domestic  reasons  for  this.  The  man  with  a 
family  of  young  children  cannot  be  so  indifferent 
to  his  personal  safety  as  an  unmarried  man  might 
be.  He  wanted  Mr.  Stearns  to  go  with  him  to 
Montreal.  They  went  together  to  consult  John  A. 
Andrew,  who  took  the  matter  quite  coolly,  and 
promised  to  look  up  their  case  over  Sunday.  Mr. 
Stearns  then  wrote  letters  to  Jennison  and  Stewart, 
the  two  boldest  jayhawkers  in  Kansas,  advising 
them  to  draw  on  E.  B.  Whitman  for  funds  to  go 
to  the  relief  of  John  Brown,  if  they  thought  they 
could  possibly  help  him  to  escape. 

On  Monday  Mr.  Stearns  received  the  following 
letter  from  John  A.  Andrew: 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  : 

"  I  went  over  the  subject  last  evening,  canvassing 
the  books  and  cases  with  great  care,  occupying 
some  four  hours.  Enclosed  is  my  conclusion.  I 
see  no  possible  way  in  which  any  one  can  have  done 

187 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

anything  in   Massachusetts   for  which  he  can  be 
carried  to  any  other  state.     I  know  nothing  for 
which  you  could  be  tried  even  here. 
"  Yours  very  truly, 

"  J.  A.  ANDREW." 

This  was  certainly  in  favor  of  Messrs.  Howe  and 
Stearns,  but  the  practical  side  of  the  matter  still 
remained  to  be  considered.  Governor  Wise  of 
Virginia  might  apply  to  Governor  Banks  for  Howe, 
Stearns,  and  Sanborn  as  accessories  under  the  Vir 
ginia  law,  and  in  that  case  the  question  was  whether 
Banks  would  give  them  up.  He  was  not  supposed 
to  be  friendly  toward  the  Bird  Club,  and  Andrew 
thought  he  would  do  anything  for  the  sake  of  pop 
ularity.*  The  names  of  the  conspirators  were 
already  in  the  newspapers,  and  public  opinion  was 
more  strongly  inclined  against  them  at  this  time 
than  it  was  afterward.  It  was  decided,  therefore, 
that  they  had  better  take  themselves  out  of  the  way 
until  the  excitement  should  have  subsided.  Mr. 
Stearns  and  Dr.  Howe  accordingly  left  for  Mon 
treal  the  next  morning ;  while  Mr.  Sanborn  visited 
John  Brown's  family  at  North  Elba,  which  was 
the  kindest  thing  he  could  have  done.  Theodore 
Parker  was  in  England  and  out  of  health ;  nor  did 
he  live  very  long  after  this. 

*  Governor  Banks  wrote  a  letter  to  Mr.  Stearns  some 
seven  months  later,  which  he  directed  to  "  Rev.  George  L. 
Stearns,  Milk  Street,"  concerning  which  Mr.  Stearns  re 
marked,  "  Banks  knows  perfectly  well  who  I  am."  Gov 
ernor  Banks  knew  who  Mr.  Stearns  was  much  better  than 
he  realized  the  dignity  of  his  own  office. 

188 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

There  would  seem  to  have  been  an  idea  of  pre 
destination  in  John  Brown's  mind  with  regard  to 
the  attack  on  Harper's  Ferry.  He  evidently  felt 
that,  whether  he  succeeded  or  failed,  living  or  dead, 
the  result  would  be  the  same.  Sanborn,  and  Gerrit 
Smith,  were  the  only  two  of  his  supporters  who 
became  fully  cognizant  of  his  Virginia  plans,  and 
they  both  endeavored  to  dissuade  him  from  the 
attempt;  but  he  was  not  to  be  dissuaded.  When 
he  first  disclosed  his  plan  to  his  own  men  at  Ken 
nedy  Farm,  every  one  of  them  protested  against 
it.  John  Brown  resigned,  was  reflected,  and  had 
his  own  way.  After  he  had  captured  Harper's 
Ferry,  and  there  was  yet  time  to  escape,  Kagi 
advised  leaving  the  place  at  once,  but  Brown  would 
not  go.  He  seemed  to  be  actuated  by  an  impulse, 
which  he  did  not  understand  himself. 

John  Brown  failed  at  Harper's  Ferry! 

While  I  am  writing  I  hear  a  nursery-maid  under 
my  window  teaching  a  small  boy  to  sing: 

"  John   Brown's   body  lies   mouldering  in  the  grave ; 
His  soul  is  marching  on." 

What  other  national  hero  has  ever  found  a  place 
in  such  a  song  as  that?* — "  his  soul  is  marching 
on."  It  belonged  to  the  war  period  and  is  no  longer 
sung  except  as  a  reminiscence  of  the  war;  but,  no 
one  who  heard  it  rise  up  from  the  camp-fires  of 
the  army  of  the  Potomac  would  consider  John 
Brown's  life  a  failure.  He  failed  as  Leonidas  did 

*  John  Brown's  Song  was  also  sung  by  American  German 
soldiers  in  the  war  of  1870. 

189 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

at  Thermopylae  and  General  Warren  at  Bunker 
Hill;  but  not  otherwise. 

The  justification  of  John  Brown  is  an  historical 
one.  All  great  revolutions  have  been  preceded  by 
similar  attempts  on  the  part  of  individuals  in  whom 
the  spirit  of  the  age  has  concentrated  itself  as  a 
special  force,  and  they  serve  to  prepare  the  mind 
and  brace  the  nerves  of  the  general  public  for  the 
coming  struggle.  The  attack  on  Harper's  Ferry 
was  immediately  compared  to  the  Boston  Massacre 
in  1774,  in  which  a  colored  man,  Crispus  Attucks, 
was  the  ringleader,  and  lost  his  life  in  the  cause 
of  American  independence.  The  Thirty  Years' 
War,  which  saved  religious  freedom  in  Germany, 
was  begun  by  throwing  the  Pope's  legates  out  of 
the  castle  window  at  Prague,  and  the  perpetra 
tors  of  this  vigorous  protest  were  all  put  to  death 
for  it. 

How  often  did  we  hear  after  the  bombardment 
of  Fort  Sumter,  even  from  old  pro-slavery  Demo 
crats  :  "  Would  that  John  Brown  were  alive 
again." 

There  is,  however,  another  ground  of  justifica 
tion  that  is  worth  considering,  and  that  is  the  char 
acter  of  the  men  who  came  forward  in  John 
Brown's  defence  during  his  imprisonment.  That 
Wendell  Phillips  should  have  broken  loose  from 
the  traditions  of  the  Boston  antislavery  society  was 
much  to  his  credit ;  but  Phillips  was  an  abolitionist 
by  profession.  Emerson,  on  the  contrary,  never 
came  before  the  public  but  twice  in  his  life  to  speak 
on  practical  questions  of  the  day — once  in  regard 
to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill,  and  again  on  this  occa- 

190 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

sion.  He  was  generally  considered  the  wisest 
American  of  his  time;  cool  headed,  judicious,  and 
temperate,  but  perfectly  fearless  in  the  cause  of 
truth  and  justice.  He  had  known  John  Brown 
personally,  and  recognized  the  incorruptible  nature 
of  the  man.  In  his  opinion  such  a  character  could 
not  go  far  wrong.  In  a  speech  at  Salem,  in  the 
first  week  of  January,  1860,  he  signalized  the  attack 
on  Harper's  Ferry  as  one  of  the  great  events  of 
the  century;  and  seven  years  later  he  said  to  a 
proud  Boston  audience :  "  You  may  call  John 
Brown  a  fanatic  if  you  choose,  but  he  was  the 
grandest  event  of  the  war."  Heroism  was  Emer 
son's  favorite  subject  of  discourse;  and  when  the 
hero  came  he  knew  him. 

John  A.  Andrew  was  a  man  of  an  entirely  dif 
ferent  stamp.  He  had  little  in  common  with  Emer 
son,  and  was  often  opposed  to  him.  He  was  at 
the  top  of  his  profession,  a  skilful  politician,  as  well 
as  a  practical  statesman.  While  John  Brown  ap 
pealed  to  Emerson's  love  of  justice,  Andrew  ad 
mired  him  for  his  humanity  and  his  hatred  of 
oppression.  Andrew  was  the  great  war  governor 
of  the  East,  and  became  as  popular  with  the  old 
Boston  Whigs  as  he  was  with  the  Free-soilers,  but 
he  always  insisted  that  John  Brown,  considered 
from  his  own  standpoint,  was  in  the  right. 

Samuel  E.  Sewall,  another  noted  lawyer,  prudent 
and  deliberate,  as  a  lawyer  should  be,  said  twenty- 
five  years  later:  "I  think  John  Brown  accom 
plished  twice  as  much  for  the  emancipation  of  the 
negroes  as  any  other  person,  not  excepting  Presi 
dent  Lincoln." 

191 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

It  was  Rev.  Edmund  Sears,  a  conservative  Uni 
tarian,  who  wrote  the  lines, 

"John   Brown   shall   tramp   the   quaking   earth 

From  Blue  Ridge  to  the  sea: 
Till   the   dark  angel   comes   again, 

And  opes  each  prison  door ; 
And  God's  great  charter  yet  shall  wave 

O'er  all  his  humble  poor." 

But  even  he  was  eclipsed  by  Rev.  Jacob  M.  Man 
ning,  pastor  of  the  Old  South  Church  of  Revolu 
tionary  memory,  who  had  married  a  wife  in  South 
Carolina  and  knew  what  slavery  was  from  per 
sonal  observation.  He  considered  it  so  great  an 
evil  that  any  and  all  means  were  justifiable  to 
extirpate  it. 

Mrs.  L.  Maria  Child  offered  to  go  to  the 
wounded  man  and  care  for  him  in  his  prison ;  and 
she  had  the  courage  to  do  it;  but  John  Brown 
would  not  permit  it. 

Such  was  the  verdict  of  New  England;  but  all 
through  the  Northern  states,  clergymen,  journal 
ists,  and  others  who  had  access  to  the  public  ear 
gave  the  same  moral  support  and  encouragement. 
William  D.  Howells  wrote  the  most  spirited  poem 
of  his  life  on  the  hero  of  Harper's  Ferry;  and 
Victor  Hugo  sent  his  testimonial  of  admiration 
from  abroad. 

What  John  Brown  went  to  Harper's  Ferry  for, 
was  to  assert  the  principle  that  what  is  originally 
wrong  cannot  be  made  right  by  prescription  of  time 
or  legislative  enactment.  This  was  a  new  prin 
ciple  and  marks  an  epoch  in  the  progress  of  civ 
ilization. 

192 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

At  this  same  time  the  people  of  Kansas  were 
organizing  a  state  government  with  an  antislavery 
constitution  and  Martin  F.  Conway  was  chosen 
delegate  to  Congress  to  obtain  the  admittance  of 
the  state  into  the  Union.  Kansas  was  irretriev 
ably  lost  to  the  slaveholders,  and  with  Kansas  all 
the  remaining  territories  of  the  United  States ;  for 
slavery  could  not  well  be  forced  into  the  territories 
north  of  Kansas,  while  the  arid  regions  of  Texas, 
New  Mexico,  and  Colorado  were  wholly  unsuited 
to  slave-labor,  which  can  only  be  made  profitable  in 
gangs  with  an  overseer.  Kansas  had  proved  the 
key  to  the  slavery  question  in  the  whole  western 
hemisphere;  and  the  fortunate  solution  of  this 
problem  should  be  credited  in  the  largest  measure 
to  the  strong  fighter  John  Brown  in  the  West ;  and, 
as  Colonel  Higginson  has  said,  to  the  strong  worker 
and  financier  George  L.  Stearns  in  the  East.  Next 
to  these  on  the  roll  of  honor  we  may  mention  Gen 
eral  Jim  Lane  and  Martin  F.  Conway,  who  gave 
Kansas  a  political  organization;  but,  as  Emerson 
would  say,  there  have  been  many  who  were  deserv 
ing. 

It  is  not  to  be  presumed  for  a  moment  that  Mr. 
Stearns  would  neglect  any  possible  measure  which 
might  bring  relief  to  his  imprisoned  friend.  What 
he  did  in  this  way  will  probably  never  be  known. 
He  was  always  reticent  in  regard  to  his  own  affairs, 
and  especially  so  concerning  Harper's  Ferry.  My 
recollection  is  that  both  Stewart  and  Jennison  went 
to  Virginia,  and  that  the  latter  succeeded  in  obtain 
ing  an  interview  with  Brown,  disguised  as  a  Meth 
odist  minister,  a  habit  which  he  could  affect  with 
13  193 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

remarkable  skill.  It  must  have  been  an  interesting 
meeting;  but  Brown  had  given  his  promise  to  the 
jailer  that  he  would  make  no  effort  to  escape,  and 
the  only  way  he  could  have  been  rescued  would 
have  been  by  main  force.  The  25th  of  November, 
Governor  Wise  notified  President  Buchanan  that 
he  had  information  of  an  extensive  conspiracy  in 
the  Pennsylvania  mountains  for  the  purpose  of 
rescuing  John  Brown.  That  such  an  organization 
existed  there  is  highly  improbable;  but  neither  is 
it  likely  that  Governor  Wise  was  the  victim  of  a 
groundless  hoax.  The  governor  was  too  wise  for 
that;  and  the  fact  would  seem  to  indicate  an  at 
tempt  on  the  part  of  Stewart  and  Jennison  to  recruit 
a  rescuing  party  in  that  region. 

Edwin  A.  Brackett  the  sculptor  (who  repre 
sented  Margaret  Fuller  in  a  marble  group,  "  The 
Shipwrecked  Mother  and  Child")  was  inspired 
with  a  strong  desire  to  make  a  portrait  bust  of  John 
Brown,  and  consulted  with  Mrs.  Stearns,  who 
commissioned  him  to  go  to  Virginia  for  the  pur 
pose,  trusting  that  her  husband  would  approve  of  it 
afterwards.  At  first  the  old  Puritan  objected  to 
having  the  measurements  taken,  but  when  Mr. 
Brackett  informed  him  whence  he  came,  John 
Brown  said :  "  Anything  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stearns 
desire  I  am  well  pleased  to  agree  to."  Mr.  Brack 
ett  saw  him  at  a  fortunate  time,  when  the  expres 
sion  of  his  face  was  sublimated  by  suffering  and 
spiritual  tension,  so  that  the  result  was  better  than 
might  have  been  expected.  The  bust  was  too  much 
idealized  to  be  a  very  exact  likeness,  but  as  a  type 
of  moral  grandeur  it  stands  on  a  par  with  Craw- 

194 


MR.  STEARNS'   BUST  OF  JOHN   BROWN 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

ford's  Beethoven.  When  Charles  Sumner  be 
held  it  in  Brackett's  studio  he  exclaimed :  "  You 
have  made  something  more  like  Michael  Angelo's 
Moses  than  any  work  the  sun  shines  on ;  "  and 
when  Mrs.  Brown  came  to  Boston  after  her  hus 
band's  death  and  suddenly  saw  the  bust  in  the 
Athenaeum  gallery,  surrounded  by  casts  of  the 
Roman  emperors,  she  recognized  it  at  once,  and 
burst  into  tears.  It  was  the  only  work  of  Brack 
ett's  on  which  he  carved  his  name. 

The  bust  now  stands  in  the  hall  of  Mr.  Stearns' 
house  in  Medford,  where  it  is  destined  to  remain. 
A  great  many  casts  were  made  of  it  when  it  was 
first  placed  on  exhibition ;  and  when  Jarvis,  the  art 
critic,  saw  it  he  remarked :  "  If  that  bust  should 
be  dug  up  in  a  ruin  two  thousand  years  from  now, 
some  one  of  the  workmen  would  say,  '  I  wonder 
what  old  Greek  god  that  was.' '  Mr.  Stearns 
would  sometimes  stand  before  it  in  a  sort  of 
reverie.  Nobody  knew  what  he  was  thinking,  but 
he  once  said :  "  It  seems  as  if  the  old  man  was 
really  alive." 

No  historian  has  given  an  adequate  account  of 
this  period,  when  revolution  was,  so  to  speak,  in 
the  egg;  and  perhaps  none  ever  will.  One  of  the 
remarkable  signs  of  the  time  was  the  organization 
of  a  meeting  in  aid  of  the  wife  and  daughters  of 
John  Brown,  presided  over  by  John  A.  Andrew, 
a  lawyer  at  the  top  of  his  profession,  a  man  of 
conservative  tendencies,  but  with  a  heart  full  of 
sympathy  for  oppressed  humanity.  The  ostensible 
purpose  of  their  meeting  served  as  a  color  to  ex 
press  sympathy  and  encouragement  for  the  old 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

hero  himself.  Never  was  there  a  more  respectable 
and  intelligent  audience  assembled  in  Boston. 
Fanatics  and  non-resistants  were  conspicuously 
absent.  Hon.  Thomas  Russell  occupied  the  next 
seat  to  that  of  Mrs.  Stearns,  applauding  with  all 
his  might. 

Andrew  opened  the  meeting  with  a  brief  but 
pithy  and  emphatic  address.  Rev.  Jacob  M.  Man 
ning  followed  him  with  a  comparison  between  John 
Brown  and  Crispus  Attucks,  "  the  black  man  who 
died  for  the  white  race,  and  the  white  man  who  was 
about  to  die  for  the  black  race."  He  said  in  his 
earnest,  telling  manner:  "  I  should  not  have  ad 
vised  Crispus  Attucks  to  stir  up  public  excitement 
as  he  did,  but  we  all  recognize  now,  that  his  death 
was  one  of  the  stepping-stones  to  American  inde 
pendence.  Neither  should  I  have  advised  John 
Brown  to  make  the  attack  on  Harper's  Ferry.  I 
should  have  counselled  him  against  doing  it,  but 
I  am  far  from  regretting  that  it  was  done."  This 
from  the  pastor  of  the  Old  South  Church  made  a 
deep  impression. 

Wendell  Phillips  had  also  come  with  the  inten 
tion  of  comparing  John  Brown  to  Crispus  Attucks, 
and,  having  the  wind  taken  out  of  his  sails  by  Rev. 
Mr.  Manning,  he  was  obliged  to  revise  his  address 
while  he  sat  on  the  platform.  His  ready  wit  was 
equal  to  the  emergency,  and  the  speech  which  he 
made  on  this  occasion  served  as  a  nucleus  to  the 
magnificent  oration  which  he  delivered  the  follow 
ing  week  in  Brooklyn.  It  was  fortunately  free 
from  those  harsh  personalities  which  so  often 
marred  Wendell  Phillips'  addresses. 


196 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

As  soon  as  the  meeting  closed  Phillips  came 
down  from  the  platform  and  said  to  Mrs.  Stearns : 
"  Where  is  your  husband?  "  "  Still  in  Canada," 
she  replied.  This  was  the  commencement  of  his 
acquaintance  with  Mr.  Stearns'  family. 

His  address  at  Brooklyn  on  Harper's  Ferry  was 
the  greatest  of  his  orations,  and  was  irradiated 
by  a  poetic  brilliancy  which  makes  it  exceptional 
in  American  oratory.  The  Academy  of  Music  was 
crowded,  and  Hon.  Thomas  Corwin,  reputed  the 
best  public  speaker  in  Ohio,  occupied  a  seat  on  the 
platform.  "  What  if  John  Brown  failed,"  said 
Phillips ;  "  every  man  meets  his  Waterloo  at  last — 
but  he  did  not  fail.  Witness  the  alarm  he  has 
created  in  the  South,  and  the  consternation  of 
Southern  sympathizers  with  slavery. 

11  Virginians  are  as  brave  as  ever.  It  was  not 
our  gray-haired  old  man  entering  at  Harper's 
Ferry  that  made  them  tremble.  It  is  the  John 
Brown  in  every  man's  conscience  that  the  South 
is  afraid  of." 

Even  the  Richmond  Whig  admitted  that  Brown 
had  potentially  made  an  end  of  slavery.  Phillips 
said: 

"  History  will  date  Virginia's  emancipation  from 
Harper's  Ferry.  True,  the  slave  is  still  there.  So, 
when  the  tempest  uproots  a  pine  on  your  hills,  it 
looks  green  for  months — a  year  or  two.  Still,  it 
is  a  timber,  not  a  tree.  John  Brown  has  loosened 
the  root  of  the  slave  system;  it  only  breathes — it 
does  not  live, — hereafter." 

On  the  day  of  John  Brown's  execution,  Decem 
ber  2,  there  was  a  memorial  service  in  the  town 

197 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

hall  at  Concord,  in  which  even  Hon.  E.  R.  Hoar, 
Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  took  an  active  share.* 
Mrs.  Stearns  attended  it,  and,  calling  on  Mrs. 
Emerson,  was  invited  to  spend  the  day.  Mr. 
Emerson  looked  very  grave  and  serious;  and  his 
wife,  who  subscribed  to  the  Antisl&very  Standard, 
was  more  than  that.  "  Are  you  not  going  to  have 
the  bells  tolled  ?  "  she  said  to  her  husband  on  his 
return  from  the  town ;  and  it  was  difficult  for  him 
to  persuade  her  that  it  would  not  be  wise  to  at 
tempt  so  much.  Such  a  public  demonstration  he 
thought  ought  to  be  spontaneous. 

That  same  day  Mr.  Stearns  escaped  from  Dr. 
Howe  and  went  to  Niagara  Falls,  where  he  spent 
the  afternoon,  listening  to  the  dirge  of  the  cataract. 
There  he  repeated  the  vow  he  had  made  at  the  time 
of  the  assault  on  Sumner,  to  devote  the  rest  of  his 
life  and  fortune  to  the  liberation  of  the  slave. 

The  second  of  December  came  on  Friday,  and 
during  that  whole  week  there  was  beautiful  Indian- 
summer  weather  until  Saturday,  when  it  became 
cloudy  and  raw.  The  next  day  there  was  a  severe 
snow-storm,  and  on  Monday  evening,  just  before 
midnight,  Mr.  Stearns  suddenly  appeared  at  his 
home,  to  the  great  rejoicing  of  his  wife,  children, 
and  servants. 


*  His  brother,  George  F.  Hoar,  since  United  States  Sena 
tor,  wrote  a  sympathetic  and  commendatory  letter  to  a 
similar  meeting  at  Worcester. 


198 


XIII 
THE  INVESTIGATING  COMMITTEE 

WHILE  Mr.  Stearns  was  absent  his  brutal  coach 
man  had  neglected  the  steam  furnace  so  that  his 
house  came  near  being  blown  into  the  air.  Auto 
matic  filling  boilers  had  not  come  into  use,  and  this 
man,  not  having  the  fear  of  his  employer  before 
his  eyes,  neglected  the  furnace  so  long  that  every 
drop  of  water  evaporated  from  it.  A  catastrophe 
was  probably  prevented  by  young  Harry  Stearns, 
whose  interest  in  mechanics  taught  him  what  the 
trouble  was,  and  he  had  the  fire  drawn  instantly. 
If  the  clumsy  coachman  had  let  the  water  into  the 
boiler  there  would  have  been  a  terrible  explosion; 
and  as  it  happened  the  mop-boards  in  the  room 
above  were  cracked  by  the  heat. 

After  discharging  this  incubus  and  having  the 
boiler  tested  again,  Mr.  Stearns'  next  thought  was 
for  John  Brown's  family.  He  arranged  with  Mr. 
Sanborn  to  have  two  unmarried  daughters 
placed  at  the  school  in  Concord,  Mr.  Sanborn  teach 
ing  them  gratis,  while  Mr.  Stearns  provided  for 
their  board  in  a  private  family.  They  were  good 
girls,  but  with  a  dreary  expression,  as  if  their  lives 
had  been  hard  and  joyless.  Mrs.  Brown  also  came 
to  Boston  to  visit  her  husband's  friends,  and  showed 
herself  to  be  well  worthy  of  him;  a  sober,  kindly 
woman,  religious  and  industrious.  Her  brother- 
in-law,  Frederick  Brown,  also  came.  The  men  of 

199 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

the  Brown  family  were  of  a  powerful  physique,  and 
with  strong,  rugged  features. 

John  A.  Andrew  had  been  constituted  treasurer 
of  the  fund  for  Mrs.  Brown's  benefit;  but  after 
Mr.  Stearns  returned  he  transferred  his  collections 
to  the  latter,  as  the  person  who  would  be  able  to 
apply  them  to  the  best  advantage.  On  December 
14  he  wrote  Mr.  Stearns  a  friendly  letter,  setting 
this  forth  in  a  complimentary  manner,  and  giving 
an  exact  account  of  the  amounts  he  had  received, 
and  the  sources  whence  they  came. 

The  amount  was  afterwards  nearly  doubled  by 
private  donations,  and  so  long  as  Mr.  Stearns  lived 
the  Brown  family  wanted  for  nothing  which  they 
really  needed.  Four  sons  still  remained:  John 
Brown,  Jr.,  who  had  a  family  of  his  own  and  be 
came  a  vine-grower  on  Put-in-Bay  Island,  in  Lake 
Erie;  Jason  Owen,  who  afterward  was  injured 
by  the  bursting  of  a  cannon;  and  Solomon,  who 
finally  emigrated  to  California  with  his  mother 
and  sisters.  After  Mr.  Stearns'  death,  Mr.  San- 
born  took  the  responsibility  on  himself,  and 
watched  over  the  family  of  his  old  friend  with  a 
truly  fraternal  solicitude. 

Mr.  Stearns  was  now  a  marked  man,  and  old 
merchants  whom  he  had  known  from  boyhood 
passed  him  on  State  Street  without  recognition; 
and  he  sometimes  heard  himself  cursed  by  others 
of  the  meaner  sort  who  had  nothing  to  hope  or 
fear  from  him.  He  even  found  it  necessary  to 
keep  his  accounts  with  a  bank  which  had  an  aboli 
tionist  for  a  cashier.  Frank  Bird  was  a  trifle  cool 
to  him,  and  when  Senator  Wilson  came  home  for 

200 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

the  holidays  and  discovered  the  drift  of  public 
opinion,  he  gave  Mr.  Stearns  a  rather  biting  com 
pliment,  which  met  with  an  equally  sharp  rejoinder. 
A  majority  of  the  Bird  Club,  however,  stood  by 
him, — and  then  there  was  Andrew,  who,  having 
once  set  his  foot  down  in  a  position,  never  drew  it 
back.  Judge  Russell  always  stopped  to  speak  with 
him  when  he  met  him  on  the  street,  and  to  inquire 
after  the  Brown  family. 

The  partial  ostracism  of  Mr.  Stearns  did  not 
last  long.  He  was  too  valuable  a  man  to  the  Re 
publican  party,  both  on  account  of  his  contributions 
and  his  practical  good  sense ;  and  the  first  gun  fired 
at  Fort  Sumter  made  a  complete  end  of  it.  Wilson 
was  greatly  afraid  that  the  Harper's  Ferry  affair 
would  have  an  injurious  effect  on  the  presidential 
election,  but  Mr.  Stearns  thought  the  contrary  and 
could  give  a  reason  for  his  opinion.  He  found 
that  his  customers,  plumbers  and  tinsmiths,  had  a 
great  admiration  for  John  Brown,  and  even  looked 
on  him  as  a  national  hen>.  "  Those  are  the  men," 
Mr.  Stearns  said,  "  who  carry  our  elections,  and 
not  college  graduates,  of  whom  a  large  proportion 
never  go  to  the  polls."  When  Republican  Con 
gressmen  were  in  need  of  moral  iron,  they  could 
always  obtain  it  by  half  an  hour's  conversation  with 
George  L.  Stearns.  Revolutionary  times  require 
firm-hearted  men,  and  bold  measures. 

Stearns  and  Howe  did  not  expect  to  escape  fur 
ther  trouble  from  their  association  with  John 
Brown,  for  on  December  5  Senator  Mason  had 
moved  for  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  inves 
tigate  the  Harper's  Ferry  raid ;  to  which  Trumbull 

201 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

of  Illinois  promptly  offered  as  an  amendment,  that 
the  proceedings  at  Liberty,  Missouri,  where  a  gov 
ernment  arsenal  was  plundered  by  the  Border-ruf 
fians,  should  also  be  investigated.  The  amendment 
was  rejected,  but  it  served  to  indicate  the  direct 
connection  between  the  two  events.  The  first  meet 
ing  of  the  committee  took  place  on  the  i6th  of 
December,  but  its  proceedings  were  so  desultory 
that  Dr.  Howe  was  not  summoned  to  appear  before 
it  until  the  last  week  of  January,  and  Mr.  Stearns 
three  weeks  later. 

They  decided  to  go  and  face  the  music,  although 
this  was  not  absolutely  necessary ;  for  Judge  Hoar 
had  informed  Mr.  Sanborn  that  even  if  an  attempt 
was  made  to  take  them  by  force,  they  could  be  res 
cued  with  the  help  of  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and 
he  believed  that  the  Boston  courts  would  sustain 
the  writ.  The  Senate  Committee  evidently  consid 
ered  Sanborn  the  most  important  witness,  and  they 
were  quite  right  in  that,  for  he  knew  more  of  John 
Brown's  plans  than  the  others;  and  they  had  a 
notification  served  on  him  in  person.  He  con 
cluded,  therefore,  to  try  Judge  Hoar's  experiment. 
Mr.  Stearns  was  the  last  important  witness  exam 
ined,  and  this  placed  him  in  a  more  difficult  posi 
tion  than  the  rest,  for  it  subjected  his  statements 
to  a  cross  fire  from  the  evidence  that  had  already 
been  taken;  although  he  enjoyed  the  benefit  of 
Dr.  Howe's  previous  experience. 

Mr.  Stearns  went  to  New  York  February  20, 
with  his  wife  and  youngest  son,  whom  he  left  in 
John  Hopper's  kindly  charge,  and  then  proceeded 
to  Washington.  He  was  summoned  before  the 

202 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

committee  on  the  24th;  and,  calling  on  Sumner 
before  he  went  to  the  Capitol  to  be  examined,  the 
Senator  said  to  him :  "  Tell  them  the  whole  truth, 
Stearns." 

Mr.  Stearns  did  not  follow  this  advice  to  the 
letter.  He  spoke  his  mind  out  boldly  enough  on 
certain  points,  but  common  prudence  dictated  that 
he  should  be  as  reticent  as  possible  concerning 
his  own  affairs.  His  answer  to  the  fourth  question 
of  the  examiners  indicates  this.  When  asked 
in  what  way  he  made  John  Brown's  acquaintance, 
Mr.  Stearns  replied :  "  I  was  introduced  to  him  by 
one  of  our  Kansas  men,  meeting  him  accidentally." 
This  was  no  doubt  true,  but  even  if  he  had  not 
himself  sent  for  John  Brown,  the  Boston  commit 
tee  must  have  done  so.  Brown  could  not  have 
made  his  easterly  journey  without  money,  and 
where  did  he  obtain  it?  Not  from  Gerrit  Smith, 
for  he  brought  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Mr. 
Smith.  It  is  most  likely  that  he  was  in  search  of 
Mr.  Stearns  when  they  first  met. 

When  the  examiner  asked  him,  "  How  was  it 
that  your  committee  were  in  possession  of  fire 
arms?"  Mr.  Stearns  replied: 

"  I  have  made  a  statement  on  paper,  which,  as 
I  am  unaccustomed  to  speak  in  public,  or  even  to 
give  evidence,  for  it  is  very  seldom  that  I  have  been 
in  courts  as  a  witness,  I  would  ask  the  permission 
of  the  committee  to  read  as  evidence,  because  it 
would  be  a  clearer  and  more  condensed  statement 
than  I  could  make  in  any  other  way." 

After  some  discussion  the  examiners  permitted 
him  to  read  his  statement,  a  portion  of  which  has 

203 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

been  given  in  the  account  of  the  Kansas  Aid  Com 
mittee.    He  also  said: 

"  About  this  time,*  on  his  representing  that  the 
force  to  be  organized  in  Kansas  ought  to  be  pro 
vided  with  revolvers,  I  authorized  him  to  purchase 
200  from  the  Massachusetts  Arms  Company,  and 
when  they  were  delivered  to  him  in  Iowa,  paid  for 
them  with  my  own  funds;  the  amount  was  $1,300. 
At  the  same  time  I  gave  him,  by  a  letter  of  credit, 
authority  to  draw  on  me  at  sight  for  $7,000  in 
sums  as  it  might  be  wanted,  for  the  subsistence  of 
100  men,  provided  that  it  should  be  necessary  at 
any  time  to  call  that  number  into  the  field  for  active 
service  in  the  defence  of  Kansas,  in  1857.  As  the 
exigency  contemplated  did  not  occur,  no  money 
was  drawn  under  it,  and  the  letter  was  subsequently 
returned  to  me." 

In  regard  to  Colonel  Forbes  he  stated: 
"About  May,  1858,  I  saw  a  letter  from  Henry 
Wilson  to  Dr.  Howe,  and  also  one  or  two  from  a 
Mr.  Forbes.  I  had  never  heard  of  Forbes  until  I 
saw  his  letters,  which  were  so  coarse  and  insulting  in 
their  language,  and  incorrect,  in  ascribing  to  others 
what  I  had  done,  that  I  concluded  he  was  an  adven 
turer  whose  only  aim  was  to  extort  money ;  but  at 
Dr.  Howe's  request,  I  wrote  the  letter  to  John 
Brown,  dated  May  14,  1858,  of  which  he  forwarded 
to  you  a  copy.  In  addition  to  what  I  have  before 
stated,  I  raised  money  and  sent  an  agent  to  Kansas 
to  aid  the  Free-state  party  in  the  Lecompton 
election,  and  again  for  the  election  in  1858." 

*The  Summer  of  1857. 
204 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

The  examiners  then  endeavored  to  trace  out  the 
course  of  events  by  which  the  rifles  finally  came 
to  Harper's  Ferry,  but  did  not  succeed  better  than 
others  who  have  attempted  this.  Mr.  Stearns 
finally  led  them  to  the  expected  interview  at  Mr. 
Hopper's  in  New  York;  and  when  they  were  in 
formed  that  Browrn  did  not  appear  then  they  asked 
him :  "  Did  you  have  any  communication  with  him 
on  the  subject  of  these  arms  after  the  date  of  these 
letters  on  the  I4th  and  I5th  of  May?"  And  he 
replied :  "  Once  only,  when  I  asked  him  where  they 
were,  and  he  told  me  that  they  were  stored  in 
Ohio."  This  answer  appears  to  have  baffled  them, 
for  they  gave  up  the  chase  and  turned  the  subject 
to  John  Brown,  Jr.'s  visit  to  Boston,  in  the  sum 
mer  of  1859,  the  object  of  which,  if  it  had  a  definite 
object,  was  never  revealed,  even  to  Mrs.  Stearns. 

The  examiners  next  asked  him :  "  Did  he  speak 
of  his  father,  and  say  where  he  was,  or  what  he 
was  engaged  in  ?  "  Mr.  Stearns  replied :  "  No, 
sir." 

When  they  questioned  him  in  regard  to  the  pikes, 
he  said: 

"  I  think  I  heard  him  say  something  about  pikes, 
but  whether  it  was  that  he  had  ordered  them  to 
be  made,  or  what  he  said  about  them,  I  do  not 
recollect.  I  think  I  heard  him  say  something  about 
pikes." 

"Q.    'When?' 

"  A.     '  That  must  have  been  in  May,  1857.' 
"Q.     '  Do   you  know   whether  he   told   you  that   he   had 
ordered  any  pikes  to  be  made  in  that  region  of  country?' 
"  A.     '  No,  sir,  I  do  not.' 

205 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

"  Q.  '  Do  you  remember  in  what  connection  he  spoke 
of  having  pikes  at  all  ? ' 

"  A.  '  He  might  have  spoken  of  them  as  being  useful  for 
military  purposes.' " 

As  Miss  Edgeworth  says  in  her  story :  "  Lawyer 
Case  with  all  his  cunning  was  not  a  match  for 
simple  Susan." 

When  they  inquired  as  to  the  purposes  to  which 
he  supposed  John  Brown  would  apply  the  funds 
which  had  been  placed  at  his  disposal,  Mr.  Stearns 
said: 

"  Knowing  that  the  man  had  an  idea  that  he 
was  engaged  in  a  work  that  I  believed  to  be  a 
righteous  one,  I  gave  him  money  to  enable  him 
to  live  or  to  do  whatever  he  thought  right.  When 
I  first  talked  with  John  Brown  regarding  Kansas 
affairs,  he  told  me  that  it  was  the  worst  possible 
policy  for  a  man  to  reveal  his  plans.  I  recollect 
his  taking  several  scraps  of  newspapers  from  his 
pocket  and  saying,  '  The  United  States  govern 
ment  immediately  disclose  their  orders  to  their 
military  officers.  Before  the  orders  leave  Wash 
ington,  they  are  published  all  through  the  papers; 
well,  now,  that  is  not  the  way;  if  a  man  is  to  do 
anything  he  must  keep  his  plans  to  himself.'  Re 
specting  that,  I  never  inquired  of  him  afterwards 
about  his  plans,  and  he  never  revealed  them  to  me." 

Upon  further  inquiry  in  regard  to  the  use  of 
firearms  which  he  had  placed  in  Brown's  posses 
sion,  Mr.  Stearns  said: 

"  No,  sir;  I  did  not  suppose  they  would  be  put 
to  any  such  purpose  as  it  has  since  appeared  they 
were  put  to." 

206 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

This  certainly  was  not  the  exact  truth ;  but,  con 
sidering  the  various  phases  of  activity  through 
which  John  Brown  had  passed,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  Mr.  Stearns  should  have  said  it.  Perhaps 
what  he  really  meant,  or  was  thinking  of,  was  that 
he  did  not  suppose  the  rifles  would  be  used  for 
offensive  operations,  like  the  attack  on  Harper's 
Ferry.  If  Mr.  Stearns  made  a  slip  here,  he  soon 
recovered  himself,  however.  In  the  cross-exami 
nation  by  Collamer  of  Vermont  we  find  the  follow 
ing  statement: 

"  Q.  '  Had  you  ever  any  intimation  of  that  kind  (that 
he  would  make  an  inroad  into  the  slave-states)  ?  ' 

"A.  '  No,  sir.  Perhaps  I  do  not  understand  you.  I 
did  suppose  he  would  go  into  Virginia  or  some  other  state 
and  relieve  slaves.' 

"Q.     'In  what  way?' 

"  A.     '  In  any  way  he  could  give  them  liberty.' 

"  Q.  *  Did  you  understand  that  he  contemplated  doing 
it  by  force?  ' 

"  A.     '  Yes,  sir ;  by  force,  if  necessary.' 

"  Q.  *  Will  you  explain  in  what  manner,  by  force,  you 
understood  he  contemplated  doing  it?' 

"A.  'I  cannot  explain  any  manner,  because,  as  I  say  to 
you,  I  never  talked  with  him  on  the  subject.'  " 

In  conclusion  Senator  Collamer  said : 

"  '  Then  I  ask  you,  do  you  disapprove  of  such  a  trans 
action  as  that  at  Harper's  Ferry?' 

"A.  'I  should  have  disapproved  of  it  if  I  had  known 
of  it ;  but  I  have  since  changed  my  opinion.  I  believe  John 
Brown  to  be  the  representative  man  of  this  century,  as 
Washington  was  of  the  last — the  Harper's  Ferry  affair,  and 
the  capacity  shown  by  the  Italians  for  self-government,  the 
great  events  of  this  age.  One  will  free  Europe  and  the 
other  America.' " 

207 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

This  last  reply  has  been  often  quoted,  and  after 
the  war  began  was  looked  upon  as  a  veritable  pre 
diction;  for  even  if  the  attack  on  Harper's  Ferry 
did  not  lead  directly  to  the  emancipation  it  was  at 
least  the  beginning  of  the  end,  and  though  Europe 
is  not  free  to  the  same  extent  as  America,  yet  the 
consolidation  of  Italy  led  directly  to  the  liberation 
of  Hungary  and  the  constitutional  governments 
of  Austria  and  Germany. 

Mr.  Stearns  afterwards  complained  that  whereas 
Senator  Mason  treated  him  with  great  politeness, 
Collamer  was  rough  and  surly  to  him.  Mr. 
Stearns  was  too  little  acquainted  with  the  courts  to 
be  aware  that  this  was  a  common  legal  artifice  in 
the  treatment  of  witnesses;  that  Mason  was  cour 
teous  and  respectful  in  order  to  draw  him  out  and 
give  him  a  false  sense  of  security,  while  Collamer's 
harshness  was  intended  to  make  him  reserved  and 
reticent.  In  Mr.  Stearns'  case,  however,  it  had 
just  the  opposite  effect.  Collamer's  harshness  irri 
tated  him,  and  he  was  naturally  suspicious  of  the 
friendliness  of  the  slaveholder.  He  always  ad 
mitted,  however,  that  Senator  Mason  was  a  very 
pleasant  man,  and  when  Mason  was  captured  by 
Commodore  Wilkes  and  imprisoned  in  Fort  War 
ren  Mr.  Stearns  expressed  a  wish  to  visit  him,  but 
refrained  from  doing  so  from  fear  of  the  news 
papers. 

An  incident  occurred  near  the  close  of  the  inves 
tigation,  which  afterwards  excited  a  good  deal  of 
amusement  in  Boston.  The  chairman  had  been 
inquiring  about  John  Brown's  last  visit  to  Boston 
and  his  entertainment  at  the  Bird  Club,  when  Jef- 

208 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

ferson  Davis,  who  had  not  hitherto  manifested 
much  interest  in  the  proceedings,  suddenly  braced 
up,  and  asked  Mr.  Stearns: 

" '  What  kind  of  a  house  is  this  Parker  House? ' 

"  A.     '  It  is  one  of  the  best  eating-houses  in  the  town.' 

"  Q.     'Are  select  dinners  given  there?' 

"A.  '  Yes,  sir ;  it  is  a  place  where  everybody  goes  for  a 
good  dinner.  If  a  literary  club  wish  to  dine,  they  go  to 
the  Parker  House ;  if  a  political  club  wish  to  dine,  they  go 
to  the  Parker  House.' 

"  Q.  '  Is  it  a  place  where  fine  and  expensive  dinners  are 
given  ?  ' 

"A.  'A  place  where  you  can  get  the  rarities  of  the  season, 
and  cooked  in  the  best  of  manner/  " 

When  Jefferson  Davis  went  to  the  White  Moun 
tains  the  following  summer,  he  stopped  in  Boston, 
and  went  to  the  Parker  House  to  see  what  it  was 
like.  He  also  purchased  a  waterproof  of  C.  F. 
Hovey  &  Co.,  who  were  among  Mr.  Stearns'  best 
friends ;  and  it  must  have  been  the  same  waterproof 
that  he  was  captured  in,  when  he  attempted  to 
escape  in  disguise  after  General  Lee's  surrender. 

When  the  proceedings  were  over  all  the  com 
mittee  left  the  room  except  Mason.  He  handed 
Mr.  Stearns  a  bright  Sharpe's  rifle  and  asked  with 
a  smile  if  he  had  ever  seen  it. 

"Mason.     'Did  you  not   see  it  in   Massachusetts?' 
"  Answer.     '  They  were  not  made  in  Massachusetts.' 
"  Clerk.     '  Those  rifles  were  made  in  Connecticut  by  the 
Sharpe's  Rifle  Co.  ?  ' 

"  Stearns.  '  Yes,  they  were  boxed  up  there  and  sent  direct 
to  Chicago.' 

"  Mason.     '  Doesn't  your  conscience  trouble  you  for  send 
ing  these  rifles  to  Kansas  to  shoot  our  innocent  people?' 
14  209 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

"  Answer.  '  Self-defence.  You  began  the  game.  You  sent 
Buford  and  his  company  with  arms  before  we  sent  any 
from  Massachusetts.' 

"  Mason.  '  I  think  when  you  go  to  that  down  below,  the 
old  fellow  will  question  you  rather  hard  about  this  matter 
and  you  will  have  to  take  it.' 

"  Answer.  '  Before  that  time  comes  I  think  he  will  have 
about  two  hundred  years  of  slavery  to  investigate,  and 
before  he  gets  through  that  will  say,  "  We  have  had  enough 
of  this  business.  Better  let  the  rest  go."' 

"  He  laughed  and  left  the  room."  * 

John  A.  Andrew's  testimony  before  the  commit 
tee  was  magnificent.  Perfectly  fearless,  he  an 
swered  Mason  and  Davis  in  such  plain  terms  that 
they  must  have  wished  they  had  let  him  alone.  He 
had  never  met  John  Brown  but  once.  He  had 
given  him  twenty-five  dollars,  and  he  did  not  regret 
it.  When  Jefferson  Davis  asked  him  if  he  approved 
Brown's  kidnapping  negroes  in  Missouri,  he  said : 
'  The  transaction  to  which  you  refer  is  one 
which  I  do  not,  from  my  point  of  view,  regard  as 
justifiable.  I  suppose  Captain  Brown  did,  and  I 
presume  I  should  not  judge  him  severely  at  all  for 
that  transaction,  because  I  should  suppose  that  he 
might  have  regarded  that,  if  not  defensive,  at  least 
offensive  warfare  in  the  nature  of  defence — an 
aggression  to  prevent  or  repel  aggressions.  And 
I  think  that  his  foray  into  Virginia  was  a  fruit 
of  the  Kansas  tree.  I  think  that  he  and  his  asso 
ciates  had  been  educated  up  to  the  point  of  making 
an  unlawful,  and  even  an  unjustifiable,  attack  upon 
the  people  of  a  neighboring  state — had  been  taught 

*  A  letter  from  Mr.  Stearns  to  Dr.  S.  G.  Howe. 

2IO 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

to  do  so,  and  educated  to  do  so  by  the  attacks 
which  the  Free-state  men  in  Kansas  suffered  from 
people  of  the  slaveholding  states.  And,  since  the 
gentleman  has  called  my  attention  again  to  that 
subject,  I  think  the  attack  which  was  made  against 
representative  government  in  the  assault  upon  Sen 
ator  Sumner,  in  Washington,  which,  so  far  as  I 
could  learn  from  the  public  press,  was,  if  not  jus 
tified,  at  least  winked  at  throughout  the  South,  was 
an  act  of  very  much  greater  danger  to  our  liberties 
and  to  civil  society  than  the  attack  of  a  few  men 
upon  neighbors  over  the  borders  of  a  state.  I 
suppose  that  the  state  of  Virginia  is  wealthy 
and  strong,  and  brave  enough  to  defend  itself 
against  the  assaults  of  any  unorganized,  unlawful 
force." 

His  testimony  in  regard  to  John  Brown's  per 
sonal  magnetism  is  most  valuable: 

"  I  do  not  know  whether  anybody  else  gave  him 
any  money  or  not.  I  sent  him  $25.  I  did  it 
because  I  felt  ashamed,  after  I  had  seen  the  old 
man  and  talked  with  him  and  come  within  the 
reach  of  the  personal  impression  (which  I  find  he 
very  generally  made  on  people)  that  I  had  never 
contributed  anything  directly  towards  his  assist 
ance,  as  one  whom  I  thought  had  sacrificed  and 
suffered  so  much  for  the  cause  of  freedom,  and  of 
good  order  and  good  government,  in  the  territory 
of  Kansas.  He  was,  if  I  may  be  allowed  to  use 
that  expression,  a  very  magnetic  person,  and  I  felt 
very  much  impressed  by  him.  I  confess  I  did  not 
know  how  to  understand  the  old  gentleman  fully." 

Martin  F.  Conway  also  had  some  interesting 
211 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

statements  to  make,  in  his  half  humorous  manner, 
concerning  the  Emigrant  Aid  Society: 

"  I  remember  when  I  first  thought  of  going  to 
Kansas  I  heard  of  this  Emigrant  Aid  Company, 
but  I  did  not  know  the  nature  of  it,  and  I  thought 
it  a  good  idea,  and  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Thayer  about 
it  to  see  what  advantages  I  could  get  in  my  emi 
gration  to  Kansas  by  connecting  myself  with  it  in 
some  way,  but  his  answer  was  very  brief  and  un 
satisfactory.  I  learned  then  that  it  was  simply  a 
company  for  the  purpose  of  making  money  by  spec 
ulating  in  land,  putting  up  saw-mills,  and  building 
hotels,  and  taking  land  as  a  consideration,  and 
holding  the  land  for  the  profit  they  could  make  on 
it  in  the  end."  * 

"  Mr.  Davis.  '  Did  it  not  send  out  emigrants?  ' 
"  A.  '  It  sent  out  no  emigrants.  I  was  told 
that  I  could  get  my  ticket  to  go  to  Kansas  at  less 
price,  a  few  dollars  less  in  price,  by  means  of  it; 
that  is,  it  would  make  me  acquainted  with  this 
man,  that  man,  and  the  other,  and  we  would  all  go 
out  together,  and,  by  going  out  together,  we  would 
get  our  tickets  at  a  lower  price.  I  did  not  know 
they  could  do  me  any  particular  favor  by  making 
me  acquainted  with  this  man,  that  man,  and  the 
other ;  that  did  not  strike  me  as  particularly  advan 
tageous  in  my  case ;  and  as  for  the  small  reduction 
in  the  price  of  fare,  that  was  nothing.' ' 

This  is  so  much  like  Conway  that  one  can  almost 
hear  his  voice. 


*  Hon.  Eli  Thayer's  interest  in  Kansas  affairs  ceased  as 
soon  as  the  righting  began. 

212 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

At  the  end  of  Governor  Charles  Robinson's  tes 
timony  we  find  this  unfavorable  comment  by  the 
Senate  Committee: 

"  By  direction  of  the  Committee,  portions  of  the 
testimony  of  this  witness,  being  hearsay  only,  and 
deemed  irrelevant  to  the  inquiries  before  them,  are 
omitted." 

This  is  of  more  importance,  as  Robinson  was 
unfriendly  to  John  Brown. 

On  his  way  home  Mr.  Stearns  wrote  to  Dr.  S. 
G.  Howe,  at  Philadelphia,  February  27: 

"  I  am  so  far  on  my  return  from  Washington,  where  I 
had  a  good  time.  The  Com.  were  civil  and  did  not  press 
me  at  all.  I  answered  freely  and  they  took  all  I  said  in 
good  faith. 

"  On  reading  my  testimony,  which  took  an  hour  and  a 
half,  I  did  not  want  to  change  a  word,  but  made  some  addi 
tions  ;  such  as,  '  I  have  since  changed  my  opinion,'  etc.  I 
was  before  them  three  hours,  from  eleven  until  two. 

"I  saw  a  good  deal  of  Sumner;  he  made  me  free  of  his 
room  at  all  hours  and  was  of  great  use  to  me.  He  is  pre 
paring  a  speech  and  will  do  justice  to  this  affair,  including 
the  Senate  Com.  He  said:  I  feel  now  perfectly  easy  with 
regard  to  slavery :  it  has  received  its  death  blow.  This  is 
not  a  quotation,  but  the  spirit  of  his  remarks. 

"  Saw  Adams,  Burlingame,  Wilson ;  nothing  said  worth 
reporting. 

"  Washington,  as  it  is  to-day,  is  the  meanest  hole  in 
creation,  and  Congress  the  meanest  part  of  Washington. 
The  members  of  both  parties  are  split  up  into  petty 
cliques,  each  intent  on  grinding  its  own  little  axe  and 
trying  to  prevent  all  the  others  from  using  the  grind 
stone.  If  they  are  our  representatives,  we  are  indeed  of  a 
low  type. 

"  Ever   yours, 

"  GEORGE  L.  STEARNS." 
213 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

On  returning  to  Boston  Mr.  Stearns  received  this 
letter  from  Senator  Sumner: 

"  SENATE  CHAMBER,  2d  March,  '60. 
"  MY  DEAR  SIR  : 

"  With  mortification  I  confess  that  I  have  lost 
your  bill  with  your  receipt. 

"  On  receiving  it  I  placed  it  carefully  in  one  of 
my  drawers,  and  remember  afterwards  taking  it  out 
and  folding;  but  I  have  not  seen  it  since;  nor  can 
I  find  it.  I  suppose  it  must  have  been  destroyed 
with  other  papers  of  less  value. 

#*##****#** 

"  I  congratulate  you  upon  your  successful  visit  to 
this  Slave-pen. 

"  Ever  faithfully  yours, 

"  CHARLES  SUMNER." 

On  the  1 6th  of  March  Sumner  wrote  again : 

"  Here  are  the  wages  of  your  testimony ! 

"  I  am  obliged  for  your  suggestion.  Have  faith. 
I  believe  when  in  active  health,  I  have  never  done 
less  than  was  expected  of  me.  I  hope  not  to  fall 
short  hereafter. 

"  I  have  twice  visited  Hyatt  in  jail.  He  is  serene 
and  tranquil,  determined  to  stay  there  at  least  five 
years,  if  before  then  he  is  not  discharged. 

"  Half  of  our  Republicans  need  conversion  to 
first  principles.  Lawyers  are  strong  in  defending  a 
point,  already  occupied.  They  will  find  any  re 
quired  number  of  reasons  for  their  cause.  But 
they  are  not  leaders  where  great  principles  are  in 
question.  Ask  Mr.  Sewall  if  I  am  not  right." 

214 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

To  this  Mr.  Stearns  replied  on  March  22: 

"DEAR  SIR: 

"  Please  accept  my  thanks  for  the  check,  which  came  to 
hand  yesterday,  and  also  for  the  Globe.  I  will  try  to  have 
your  Speech  published  in  our  Republican  papers. 

"  It  is  the  only  one  that  hit  the  mark.  Hale  hit  Fessen- 
den,  but  overshot  the  question ;  all  the  rest  are  Republican 
and  Democratic  talk.  In  the  meantime  public  opinion  is 
slowly  taking  the  right  direction,  one  of  the  Judges  of  the 
S.  J.  C.  declaring  openly  that  the  Senate  is  wrong,  and 
another  that  the  court  would  like  to  hear  an  argument 
on  it,  especially  before  any  decision  has  been  had  elsewhere. 
They  will  be  sure  to  have  the  opportunity. 
"  Truly  your  friend, 

"  GEORGE  L.  STEARNS." 

After  the  United  States  marshal  had  served  a 
summons  on  Frank  B.  Sanborn,  the  latter  went 
off  for  some  time,  but  returned  to  his  school  early 
in  March,  and  a  few  weeks  later  there  was  a  serio 
comic  attempt  to  kidnap  him  and  carry  him  to 
Washington  by  force. 

There  was  an  old  barn  close  to  the  school-yard 
owned  by  a  man  named  Conant,  who  was  a  trusty 
follower  of  their  cause.  In  this,  two  United  States 
marshals  secreted  themselves,  and  watched  Mr. 
Sanborn,  as  he  came  and  went,  through  the  cracks 
in  the  boards.  Shortly  after  nine  in  the  evening, 
they  were  joined  by  two  assistants  with  a  hack 
from  Boston,  and  proceeded  to  Mr.  Sanborn's 
house,  which  was  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  way. 
Mr.  Sanborn  answered  the  door-bell  himself;  was 
immediately  seized,  and  dragged  to  the  carriage. 
To  force  him  to  enter  it,  however,  was  more 
difficult,  for  he  was  six  feet  four  inches  in  height 

215 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

and  a  strong,  vigorous  man.  His  sister,  Miss 
Sarah  Sanborn,  followed  quickly  after  them,  and, 
seizing  the  whip,  gave  the  horses  such  a  cut  that  it 
was  impossible  to  keep  the  carriage  still.  Mr.  San- 
born's  nearest  neighbor,  who  was  fortunately  a 
blacksmith,  hearing  the  cries  of  murder,  now  ran  to 
the  rescue;  and  three  young  ladies  of  the  school, 
who  boarded  with  his  wife,*  ran  through  the  village 
ringing  door-bells  and  calling  on  the  people.  In 
this  manner  a  crowd  was  quickly  collected,  in 
cluding  Mr.  Sanborn's  largest  boys,  who  ran  in  a 
body  to  his  rescue.  One  of  them  was  a  Southerner, 
named  Mason,  who  had  often  cursed  his  master  for 
an  abolitionist,  but  was  now  foremost  in  his 
defence.  The  cause  of  the  marshals  seemed  hope 
less,  but  they  still  held  on  to  their  prisoner.  In  less 
than  twenty  minutes  Emerson  appeared,  although 
he  lived  half  a  mile  away;  and  immediately  after 
Judge  Hoar  came  holding  up  the  promised  writ  of 
habeas  corpus.  Before  this  mandate  of  the  law,  the 
officers  were  compelled  to  give  way.  They  took 
the  bracelets  off  Mr.  Sanborn's  wrists,  and  left  the 
town  followed  by  the  execrations  of  the  populace. 
It  was  a  pleasant  spring  evening,  and  nobody  was 
hurt. 

The  case  was  tried  in  Boston  the  next  day,  April 
4,  before  the  Supreme  Court.  John  A.  Andrew 
and  Samuel  E.  Sewall  were  counsel  for  Mr.  San- 
born,  and  Chief  Justice  Shaw,  not  liking  to  try 
conclusions  with  the  United  States  Senate,  gave 
the  case  to  them  on  a  technicality  of  irregular  pro- 

*  Called  "  the  Bigelow  girls  "  from  the  blacksmith's  name. 
216 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

cedure.  His  decision  occupies  four  pages  closely 
printed  in  Gray's  Reports,  and  was  so  circuitous 
that  Mr.  Sanborn,  who  could  read  Greek  at  sight, 
could  not  tell  at  the  close  whether  he  or  the  mar 
shals  had  gained  the  case,  until  Wendell  Phillips, 
who  had  been  in  attendance  all  day  with  Walt 
Whitman,  came  to  him  and  said :  "  That  means 
that  you  are  discharged."  A  fine  precedent  for 
lawyers  to  wrangle  over. 

A  carriage  was  in  readiness  for  him  outside  the 
court-house,  which  conveyed  him  to  a  station  on 
the  Fitchburg  railroad,  beyond  the  city  limits,  for 
fear  that  a  second  attempt  would  be  made  to  arrest 
him.  That  evening  an  enthusiastic  meeting  was 
held  in  the  town-hall  at  Concord,  where  Wentworth 
Higginson,  who  suddenly  appeared  at  the  right 
moment,  made  a  vigorous  address,  congratulating 
the  people  of  the  town  on  their  successful  resist 
ance  to  the  slave-power,  and  spirited  assertion  of 
the  higher  law.  The  indictment  of  the  United 
States  marshals  for  felonious  assault,  and  the 
presentation  of  a  revolver  to  Miss  Sarah  San- 
born,  closed  this  afterpiece  to  the  Harper's  Ferry 
raid. 

Among  Mr.  Stearns'  papers  there  is  an  undated 
letter  from  Wendell  Phillips  referring  to  this  affair, 
which  Mr.  Sanborn  thinks  must  have  been  written 
in  the  court-room  during  the  trial.  This  is  quite 
possible,  although  the  expression  in  it  "  Now  if 
Concord  will  stand  by  her  son  "  would  seem  to 
refer  to  an  earlier  date  and  some  prearrangement 
on  the  part  of  Sanborn's  friends.  In  the  former 


217 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

case  it  is  probable  that  the  letter  referred  to  the 
provision  against  an  attempt  to  rearrest  Sanborn. 
It  runs: 

"  DEAR  FRIEND  : 

"  Your  idea  and  suggestions  to  Andrew  were  new  to  me. 
I  doubt  not  he  gave  them  due  consideration — and  I  hear  a 
part  of  your  plan  at  least  has  been  adopted.  Now  if  Con 
cord  will  stand  by  her  son  we  shall  force  our  Supreme 
Court  to  a  decision — at  least  on  State  Rights  if  not  the 
Senate's  power. 

"  Yours  respectfully, 

"  WENDELL  PHILLIPS." 

In  the  summer  of  1860  Wendell  Phillips  visited 
the  family  of  John  Brown  at  North  Elba,  where  he 
seemed  to  those  poor  lonely  souls  like  an  archangel 
dropped  from  the  skies.  John  Brown's  grave  is 
at  the  foot  of  an  immense  boulder,  and  Phillips 
engaged  a  stone-mason  to  cut  Brown's  name  on 
this  rock  in  letters  a  foot  high.  This  is  the  old 
hero's  monument,  and  one  that  will  last  as  long  as 
the  pyramids. 

NOTE. — The  technical  point  in  the  case  of  Sanborn  vs. 
Silas  Carleton  was  simply  that  an  arrest  made  by  order 
of  the  United  States  Senate  must  be  performed  by  an  officer 
of  the  Senate,  and  not  by  an  officer  in  some  other  branch  of 
the  government. 


218 


XIV 

THE  GREAT  ELECTION 

EVEN  the  Harper's  Ferry  raid  and  the  fate  of 
John  Brown  were  now  being  eclipsed  by  the 
national  conventions  for  presidential  candidates, 
which  preceded  the  most  important  election  that 
has  ever  been  held  in  America.  The  Democratic 
convention  came  first,  and  Charleston  was  ap 
pointed  for  its  meeting  in  order  to  conciliate  the 
South  Carolinians,  who  had  already  indicated  a 
centrifugal  tendency;  but  the  Northern  delegates, 
who  went  there  ready  to  make  any  concessions 
short  of  reopening  the  slave-trade,  were  treated  so 
coldly  and  such  violent  antagonisms  arose  that  it 
seemed  like  the  tower  of  Babel  come  again,  and 
Caleb  Cushing,  a  well-seasoned  presiding  officer, 
finally  declared  that  his  strength  could  hold  out 
no  longer.  Many  Southern  delegates  left  the  con 
vention  and  the  remainder  adjourned  to  meet  at 
Baltimore  two  months  later. 

There  was  great  rejoicing  at  the  Bird  Club  over 
the  political  smashup  at  Charleston,  and  John  A. 
Andrew  compared  Douglas  to  the  Nessus  shirt 
which  destroyed  Hercules.  Bright  prospects  of 
the  Republican  party  began  to  lift  the  gloom  which 
had  settled  on  Mr.  Stearns'  face  ever  since  Decem 
ber  2.  Sumner  felt  confident  that  any  candidate 
which  the  party  should  nominate  would  be  elected. 
It  was  generally  believed  that  Seward  would  be 
the  man.  Lincoln  was  not  even  thought  of.  As 
for  the  governorship  it  was  admitted  that  Banks 

219 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

could  obtain  a  renomination,  if  he  desired  it.  He 
was  a  remarkably  good  presiding  officer,  and  this 
made  him  the  beau  ideal  of  ward  politicians  and 
their  country  cousins.  It  was  regretted  that  he  was 
not  in  harmony  with  the  senators  and  leading 
representatives  of  the  state. 

Mr.  Stearns  did  not  wish  to  keep  his  new  house 
all  to  himself,  so  he  invited  David  A.  Wasson  to 
spend  a  year  with  him.  Mr.  Wasson  had  long  been 
out  of  health,  and  the  doctors  believed  that  a  com 
fortable  home  and  perfect  freedom  from  care  would 
do  much  to  restore  it.  He  had  been  Mr.  Stearns' 
candidate  for  the  First  Medford  Parish  against  the 
pro-slavery  Tebitts;  and  Mr.  Stearns  had  felt  an 
interest  in  him  ever  since.  Mr.  Wasson  was  living 
in  Concord  at  this  time,  but  in  spite  of  Emerson's 
friendliness,  he  did  not  find  the  social  atmosphere 
there  favorable  to  him. 

As  Judge  Conway  said,  Wasson  was  a  genius, 
and  one  of  the  finest  in  that  heroic  age,  when 
geniuses  were  as  common  as  they  are  rare  at 
present.  The  measure  of  his  intellect  may  be  esti 
mated  by  the  fact  that  his  critics  always  compared 
him  with  Emerson;  and  if  he  had  enjoyed  Emer 
son's  early  advantages,  especially  the  inheritance 
of  property,  he  might  have  surpassed  Emerson. 
The  son  of  a  poor  shipbuilder  on  the  coast  of 
Maine,  his  early  life  was  too  severe  for  a  sensi 
tive  nature  and  artistic  temperament,  and  his  health 
gave  way  under  the  strain.  The  best  of  his  poetry 
is  fully  equal  to  the  best  of  Emerson's  or  Matthew 
Arnold's;  while  his  prose  ought  more  properly  to 
be  compared  with  John  Locke's,  though  he  was  a 
deeper  thinker,  more  of  a  seer  than  Locke.  His 

220 


ppp 


DAVID   A.   WASSON 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

frequent  use  of  homely  phrases  interfered  with  his 
popularity  somewhat ;  but  he  wrote  the  philosophi 
cal  articles  for  the  Atlantic  Monthly  in  its  palmy 
days,  when  it  was  edited  by  Lowell  and  James  T. 
Fields,  and  he  has  had  no  successor  in  that  line  who 
deserves  to  be  named  with  him.  Unfortunately  it 
was  not  the  custom  at  that  time  to  sign  magazine 
articles,  so  that  he  missed  the  celebrity  which  might 
have  given  him  an  enduring  place  among  Ameri 
can  writers.  His  essays  were  read  by  thousands 
who  never  knew  his  name. 

A  number  of  them  were  written  at  Mr.  Stearns' 
house,  and  a  moral  essay  on  Rest  and  Motion  is 
supposed  to  have  been  intended  for  Mr.  Stearns' 
benefit.  There  was  not  much  rest  in  Mr.  Stearns' 
life,  certainly.  His  wife,  writing  to  Mrs.  Emer 
son,  compared  herself  to  the  tender  of  an  express 
locomotive — one  that  made  no  stops.  Wasson  also 
addressed  the  following  sonnet  to  Mr.  Stearns, 
which  is  not,  however,  one  of  his  best : 

"G.  L.   S. 

"  By  all  the  purest  love  I  bear  my  kind, 
By  all  the  hope  I  have  of  human  weal, 
By  all  of  duty,  resolute  and  leal, 
That  ever  may  my  sprit  bless  and  bind, 
Am  I  to  thee  drawn  closer  and  affined, 
Thou  mankind's  lover,  whom  to  name  my  friend 
Were  prodigal,  as  on  myself  to  spend 
A  public  wealth  for  myriads  designed. 
I  near  thy  spirit  as  Missouri  bears 
His  waters  to  his  brother  stream,  not  through 
Fondness,  as  wooed  of  thee,  or  thee  to  woo; 
But  never  is  my  heart  on  noble  cares 
Rightly  intent,  but  whither  it  repairs 
Thy  soul  with  earnest  tide  is  flowing  too." 

221 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

He  also  composed  sonnets  on  Sumner  and  Seward, 
comparing  the  two,  much  to  the  advantage  of  the 
former. 

Mr.  Wasson  agreed  remarkably  well  with  Mr. 
Stearns  on  religious,  political,  and  social  subjects, 
and  he  exemplified  his  views  to  an  extent  which 
Mr.  Stearns  was  unable  to  do.  Yet,  there  was  a 
tendency  to  divergence  between  them  which  grew 
continually  wider,  though  it  never  resulted  in 
actual  antagonism.  These  two  men  illustrated 
Goethe's  celebrated  saying:  "Thought  broadens, 
but  weakens;  action  strengthens,  but  narrows." 
Mr.  Stearns  recognized  Wasson  as  the  broadest 
mind  he  had  ever  met,  but  his  mode  of  life  was 
such  that  he  could  not  adapt  himself  to  Mr.  Was- 
son's  breadth.  His  mind  was  no  longer  open  to 
conviction;  and  on  the  other  hand  Wasson's  habit 
of  weighing  the  pros  and  cons  of  a  subject  gave 
an  appearance  of  indecision,  which  Mr.  Stearns 
mistook  for  weakness.  Neither  did  he  approve  of 
Wasson's  feminine  friendships,  which  are  one  of 
the  emoluments  of  a  man  of  refined  tastes.  A  cer 
tain  Boston  lady  who  came  occasionally  to  see  Mr. 
Wasson  gave  Mrs.  Stearns  great  annoyance;  but 
it  was  impossible  to  prevent  this,  for  her  father 
was  one  of  Wasson's  most  helpful  friends.  What 
made  the  matter  worse,  she  was  a  noted  flirt. 

What  Mr.  Stearns  did  like  was  Mr.  Wasson's 
perfect  sincerity,  his  keen  penetration,  and  absence 
of  all  eccentricity.  He  did  not  believe  in  Alcott's 
vegetable  diet,  in  Emerson's  naturalism,  or  in 
Thoreau's  idea  of  turning  human  beings  back  into 
oak  trees.  With  all  his  advanced  thought  and 

222 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

progressive  tendencies,  Wasson  had  a  thoroughly 
sound,  healthful  nature.  He  was  one  of  the  best 
talkers  of  his  time;  not  so  brilliant  as  Lowell  or 
Wendell  Phillips,  but  rising  to  higher  flights,  and 
his  fund  of  good  material  was  simply  inexhaustible. 
Mr.  Stearns  had  long  desired  to  make  a  journey 
to  Kansas,  and  to  see  the  country  and  its  people 
with  his  own  eyes.  The  present  time  seemed  a 
favorable  opportunity,  and  so  he  set  forth  the  last 
of  April,  taking  Philadelphia  en  route.  On  May- 
Day  he  wrote  to  Mrs.  Stearns  from  that  city : 

"  I  had  no  time  to  write  last  evening,  and  so  you  will 
not  get  this  until  Thursday.  My  first  move  yesterday  was 
for  Peter  and  Susie  Leslie.  He  has  gone  to  Broad  Moun 
tain  and  will  not  be  home  until  Friday,  but  Susie  was 
delighted  with  my  offer  to  take  him  with  me ;  thought  he 
would  go,  if  his  engagements  will  permit.  If  Howe  and 
Bird  both  fail  me,  I  will  try  to  get  him  or  some  one  else 
here  to  go  on.  Have  no  doubt  of  success. 

"Later.  Frank  Bird  has  just  arrived.  Dr.  Howe  too 
sick  to  travel,  and  we  leave  here  to-night  or  to-morrow 
noon,  probably  to-night.  To-day  I  have  spent  the  morning 
with  J.  Miller  McKim.  He  approves  of  my  plans,  and 
thinks  after  the  elections  are  over  that  national  aid  can  be 

obtained  here   for  them.     Approves   of  aid  to   M and 

operations  in  that  quarter  at  once. 

"  Now  I  have  only  time  to  say  that  I  hope  you  got  safe 
and  comfortably  home.  My  enterprise  looks  well  to-day, 
and  that  keeps  up  my  spirit. 

"  Your  loving  husband, 

"  GEORGE  L.  STEARNS." 

It  may  be  imagined  that  Mr.  Stearns  received 
a  cordial  welcome  in  Kansas.  He  might  have  had 
a  public  ovation,  but  he  avoided  constitutionally 

223 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

everything  in  that  line.  He  disliked  holiday 
speeches  by  himself  or  others.  The  important  men 
of  the  territory  crowded  about  him — there  were 
so  many  of  them — and  entertained  him  in  such 
homely  manner  as  they  could.  It  was  fortunate 
that  he  could  drink  whiskey  cocktails ;  and  perhaps 
it  would  have  been  better  for  his  health  to  have 
taken  more  of  them ;  but  he  was  always  abstemious. 
An  eye-witness  afterward  recorded  an  interesting 
conversation  concerning  John  Brown  between  Gen 
eral  Jim  Lane  and  Mr.  Stearns,  but  the  extract  has 
disappeared  and  it  cannot  be  recalled.  Governor 
Robinson  was  not  to  be  found  anywhere  and  evi 
dently  avoided  Mr.  Stearns.  The  eighth  of  May 
Mr.  Stearns  wrote  to  his  wife: 

"  Yesterday  a  black  man  was  kidnapped  from  this  place, 
which  set  the  people  in  some  commotion,  but  the  real 
abolitionists  are  the  exception.  Have  seen  most  of  the 
latter  class.  They  are  a  sturdy  race. 

"  Ames,  the  United  States  marshal  who  was  shot  at 
Topeka,  was  the  same  who  previously  tried  to  arrest 
Montgomery  and  there  has  been  no  second  attempt,  as  I 
supposed,  to  arrest  him.  All  is  quiet  here,  and  I  do  not 
think  there  will  be  any  trouble  in  this  territory  this  year. 
It  is  generally  understood  that  it  was  an  attempt  on  the 
part  of  the  marshal  to  get  some  money,  instead  of  which 
he  got  a  ball. 

"  Conway  is  here,  but  will  leave  with  us  for  Chicago  to 
attend  the  convention.  I  never  saw  him  in  so  good  health 
as  at  present.  I  am  glad  I  came  out  here,  and  hope  some 
time  to  come  again  with  you.  I  think  in  another  year  we 
can  accomplish  it.  They  are  having  a  fearful  drought  here. 
It  has  hardly  rained  at  all  since  last  September.  Their 
winter  wheat  all  dried  up,  and  the  corn  does  not  even  swell 
in  the  ground.  If  it  continues  there  will  be  a  famine  here. 

224 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Of  course  all  is  dust,  but  it  is  not  troublesome  to  me,  at  least 
as  it  would  be  to  you.  I  send  you  samples  of  it  in  this 
paper,  which  was  clean  when  I  began  to  write. 

"  May  9.  So  busy  last  night  that  I  forgot  to  put  this 
in  the  mail.  My  visit  has  been  eminently  successful,  but 
not  exactly  as  I  supposed.  I  stay  here  to-day  to  get  letters 
from  home.  Hope  to  get  one  from  you." 

A  veil  of  mystery  hangs  over  Mr.  Stearns'  Kan 
sas  expedition.  That  he  attempted  to  form  some 
kind  of  organization  there  is  evident;  but  he  does 
not  appear  to  have  confided  this  even  to  his  wife. 
It  is  noticeable  that  Judge  Conway  accompanied 
him  to  Chicago ;  and  at  the  Republican  convention 
Conway  first  voted  for  Chase,  and  afterward  for 
Lincoln.* 

At  this  time  Emerson  asked  me :  "  What  do 
you  hear  from  your  father  in  Kansas  ?  "  I  replied : 
"  He  finds  it  a  very  beautiful  country."  "  No," 
said  Emerson,  "  it  is  not  a  beautiful  country ;  for 
that  you  must  have  woods  and  mountains,  and 
there  are  none  in  Kansas."  Mr.  Stearns  looked 
at  the  subject  from  a  less  poetic  point  of  view. 
He  foresaw  in  the  fertile  prairies  of  the  West  a 
great  opportunity  for  struggling  humanity. 

He  wrote  to  Mrs.  Stearns  from  Chicago,  May 
17: 

"  I  have  to-day  two  letters  from  you  and  one  from  Frank 
— your  letter,  May  9  and  Frank's  May  12,  and  have  tele 
graphed  that  I  am  here  and  will  leave  for  Philadelphia 
to-night. 

*  We  find  that  Lincoln  paid  the  expenses  of  one  Kansas 

delegate  to  the  convention.  See  Herndon's  "  Lincoln," 
iii,  458. 

15  225 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

"  I  found  on  arrival  at  Lawrence  some  earnest  men,  who 
are  desirous  to  use  active  measures  if  they  could  have  the 
means.  Among  them  a  Mr.  Stewart,  who  tells  me  he  for 
merly  lived  with  Mr.  Henry  A.  Page.  S.  has  several  colored 
people  on  his  farm,  one  a  good-looking  young  girl  who, 
when  her  master  tried  to  take  improper  liberties  with  her, 
knocked  him  down  and  ran  off. 

"  He,  with  others  I  saw,  assured  me  that  it  was  the  wish 
of  the  majority  of  the  people  of  Kansas  to  make  it  a  '  free 
state'  for  blacks  as  well  as  whites,  and  they  would  do  so 
if  the  means  could  be  procured  to  effect  an  organization. 

"  If  I  had  returned  home  my  work  would  only  have  been 
half  developed,  and  of  course  half  done.  I  now  feel  con 
fident  that  we  can  make  the  whole  of  Kansas  a  place  of 
rest  for  the  'panting  fugitive/  and  that  done,  Missouri, 
Arkansas,  and  the  Indian  Territory  can  be  cleared  of  slaves. 

"  Montgomery  is  a  splendid  man.  I  will  tell  you  lots  of 
stories  about  him  when  I  get  home." 

Not  one  word  concerning  the  Republican  con 
vention.  In  truth  Mr.  Stearns  felt  little  interest  in 
its  proceedings.  The  Republican  party  had  taken 
a  backward  step,  and  its  leader,  Seward,  the  cham 
pion  of  the  higher  law,  who  seemed  providentially 
appointed,  had  reversed  his  record  in  order  to  adapt 
himself  to  the  times.  Chase  was  Mr.  Stearns'  can 
didate,  but  he  knew  politics  too  well  to  expect 
his  nomination.  Yet  he  might  have  remained  to 
see  the  game  played  out,  with  his  friend  Bird,  had 
it  not  been  for  his  wife,  who  suffered  not  so  much 
from  loneliness  as  from  a  continual  fear  that  some 
thing  dreadful  might  happen  to  him. 

Mr.  Stearns  brought  home  with  him  a  humorous 
saying  of  old  Tom  Benton's  concerning  Stephen  A. 
Douglas,  which  was  widely  circulated  at  the  time, 
but  now  long  since  forgotten.  Benton  said :  "  Mr. 

226 


CAPT.  JAMES  MONTGOMERY  OF  KANSAS 


^"  lj£  irv-r"1     «-*-    . 

r       V'  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Douglas  wants  to  be  President,  sir;  he  can't  do  it, 
sir.  His  coat-tails  are  too  near  the  ground,  sir." 
Mr.  Douglas'  short  figure  did  not  suit  the  fashion 
of  the  day  at  all. 

When  Mr.  Stearns  was  asked  how  he  liked  the 
nomination  of  Lincoln,  he  said :  "  My  only  objec 
tion  to  him  is  that  he  has  always  supported  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law.  He  may  do,  however,  as 
well  as  another."  Wasson  was  very  much  pleased 
with  it  and  said :  "  I  nominated  Lincoln  for  the 
Presidency  nearly  two  years  ago.  He  made  some 
remarks  concerning  the  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence  in  his  campaign  with  Douglas,  with  which  I 
agreed  thoroughly,  and  I  said  then  that  he  was  the 
man  we  ought  to  have  for  President."  This  inter 
ested  Mr.  Stearns  very  much,  and  the  two  gentle 
men  discussed  Lincoln  and  his  candidacy  for  some 
time,  finally  concluding  that  if  he  had  been  born  in 
New  England  or  Ohio  he  would  have  been  a  good 
Free-soiler.* 

The  attempt  has  been  made  to  show,  though  not 
to  prove,  that  Lincoln's  nomination  in  1860  was  the 
result  of  a  great  popular  movement.  It  is  true  that 
this  happened  in  1864,  when  he  was  renominated  in 
spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  leading  politicians  of 
his  party.  In  1860  Lincoln  was  comparatively 
unknown  east  of  Ohio,  except  to  politicians ;  and 
the  secret  of  his  nomination  was  the  principle  in 
American  politics,  now  sufficiently  well  known, 

*  What  Lincoln  said  was,  that  he  did  not  believe  our  fore 
fathers  intended  that  men  were  equal  in  all  respects,  but 
that  they  ought  to  be  equal  before  the  law. 

227 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

that  a  candidate  with  a  short  record  has  a  better 
chance  for  election  than  an  old  party-leader.  This 
is  the  reason  why  Clay  never  could  be  elected,  and 
why  Sherman  of  Ohio  never  could  be  nominated. 
No  matter  how  high-minded  a  statesman  may  be, 
in  course  of  years  he  is  obliged  to  change  his  tac 
tics  and  adapt  himself  more  or  less  to  outward 
conditions.  He  is  fortunate  if  he  is  not  obliged  to 
contradict  himself.  What  he  says  at  one  time  will 
offend  one  class  of  people,  and  at  another  time 
another  class.  It  is  impossible  to  please  everybody, 
and  if  he  becomes  a  presidential  candidate  his 
speeches  are  so  many  witnesses  against  him,  which 
the  opposition  are  not  slow  to  take  advantage  of. 

About  the  middle  of  June  Mr.  Stearns  wrote  to 
Judge  Conway  inviting  him  to  come  to  Boston  to 
consult  with  him  concerning  Kansas  affairs,  which 
evidently  gave  him  uneasiness.  It  is  a  pity  that 
this  letter  should  have  been  lost,  for  we  may  judge 
from  Conway's  reply  that  it  contained  matter  of 
importance.  On  the  I7th  instant  the  latter  wrote  to 
him  from  Baltimore: 

"Your  kind  favor  of  the  I5th  is  at  hand.  I  have  no 
business  requiring  my  presence  in  Boston  at  this  time ;  so 
that  if  I  visit  it,  I  must  do  so  at  your  account.  This,  I 
shall,  of  course,  be  glad  to  do,  as  much  for  the  pleasure 
it  will  afford  me  personally,  as  for  the  accommodation  it 
may  be  to  you. 

"  Should  Douglas  be  nominated  by  the  convention  now  in 
session  in  this  city  the  South  will  bolt,  and  Lincoln  be 
elected  President ;  in  which  case  I  do  not  think  a  movement 
to  prevent  his  inauguration  at  all  improbable.  What  would 
become  of  Kansas  in  the  confusion  which  would  follow  such 
a  proceeding,  God  only  knows.  Should  Douglas  not  be 

228 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

nominated,  but  if  the  convention  unites  in  some  other  can 
didate,  Guthrie  for  example,  then  Lincoln  would  not  prob 
ably  be  elected,  but  the  Democratic  candidate  instead.  The 
result  of  this  would  be  that  the  present  application  for 
Kansas'  admission  would  be  discarded,  and  new  proceed 
ings  instituted  for  another  state  organization  founded  on 
Democratic  principles." 

The  infatuation  of  the  Northern  Democracy  for 
Douglas  almost  seems  to  have  been  providential. 
The  Southern  delegates  at  Baltimore  offered  them 
Seymour  of  New  York,  who,  if  more  pro-slavery, 
was  also  a  more  substantial  man  than  Douglas,  and 
a  decided  improvement  on  Pierce  and  Buchanan, — 
but  the  opportunity  was  lost.  General  B.  F.  Butler 
distinguished  himself  by  refusing  to  sit  in  a  con 
vention  where  the  slave-trade  was  openly  advo 
cated.* 

The  movement  to  make  John  A.  Andrew  gov 
ernor  originated  with  Frank  W.  Bird  and  Henry 
L.  Pierce,  and  George  L.  Stearns  quickly  joined  it. 
He  subscribed  to  a  fund  for  the  purpose,  and 
influenced  such  people  as  he  was  in  contact  with. 
His  mill-hands  elected  Andrew  delegates  in  one  of 
the  Charlestown  wards.  It  was  now  that  the  organ 
ization  of  the  Kansas  Aid  committee  came  to  be  of 
good  service ;  for  it  was  a  foregone  conclusion  that 
the  men  who  served  to  help  Kansas  would  be  just 
the  ones  to  support  Andrew.  These  were  applied 
to  in  various  ways,  personally  and  by  letter,  with  a 


*  This  was  the  first  step  in  General  Butler's  transforma 
tion  to  the  antislavery  cause,  in  which,  to  tell  the  truth,  he 
was  always  consistent. 

229 


~THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

result  more  than  satisfactory.  The  nomination  of 
Andrew  was  not  a  popular  movement,  but  the  rank 
and  file  of  the  party  seized  on  it  with  alacrity; 
and  it  was  carried  through  over  the  heads  of  the 
more  mercenary  class  of  politicians,  who  feared 
the  stout,  curly-haired  man  as  a  determined  enemy 
to  the  lobby  interests  of  the  state-house. 

The  last  of  June  Chevalier  Howe  said  to  Mr. 
Stearns :  "  Let  us  take  our  boys  to  New  York  to 
see  the  Great  Eastern ; "  and  so  they  did.  The 
Great  Eastern  was  a  mammoth  steamship,  the 
largest  ever  built,  and  had  just  made  its  first  trip 
across  the  ocean.  We  went  to  the  Fifth  Avenue 
Hotel  (brand  new  and  very  fine),  where  Rev. 
Gideon  Achs  soon  made  his  appearance.  Mr.  Achs 
remarked  there  was  no  other  street  in  the  world 
like  Broadway, — so  many  miles  of  costly  buildings, 
— though  the  architecture  was  not  so  good  as  it 
might  be.  Dr.  Howe  and  his  son  *  appeared  the 
next  morning,  and  the  whole  party  went  to  view 
the  big  steamer,  which  Mr.  Stearns  and  the  doctor 
examined  from  stem  to  stern.  Afterward  we 
went  to  an  ice-cream  saloon  on  Broadway,  where 
Dr.  Howe  assured  us  we  could  get  the  real  article ; 
and  when  we  were  somewhat  cooled  off  the  doctor 
said :  "  Well,  Stearns,  what  do  you  think  of  her?  " 
"  I  think  she  is  too  big,"  he  replied.  "  If  a  man 
is  going  to  increase  his  business  he  should  do  it 
gradually  and  not  at  such  a  long  jump.  I  have 
known  a  number  of  failures  from  that  cause." 

Meanwhile  Stephen  A.  Douglas  was  energeti- 

*  Now  Professor  Henry  M.  Howe  of  Columbia  College. 
230 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

cally  stumping  the  Northern  states,  in  favor  of 
squatter  sovereignty.  Wasson  met  him  in  August 
on  the  Bangor  steamboat,  and  did  not  like  him 
better  for  a  close  acquaintance.  He  had  a  red, 
coarse-featured  face,  and  made  a  speech  at  every 
landing  where  the  boat  stopped.  He  always  said : 
"  I  take  this  applause  as  intended  to  be  a  recogni 
tion  of  the  great  principle  of  squatter  sovereignty." 
To  an  educated  person  this  sounded  ridiculous 
enough. 

Mr.  Stearns  attended  the  Republican  convention 
at  Worcester  in  September,  and  sat  as  a  delegate 
from  some  town  in  the  western  part  of  the  state. 
He  could  not  obtain  an  election  in  Medford,  where 
even  Republicans  were  tinged  with  the  pro-slavery 
element  of  the  place.  John  A.  Andrew  was  nomi 
nated  without  difficulty,  and  a  series  of  uncom 
promising  resolutions  were  adopted,  which  rang 
through  the  country  like  the  sound  of  a  bugle. 
Frank  Bird  and  his  friends  carried  everything 
before  them;  but  it  was  the  spirit  of  old  John 
Brown  that  nominated  the  governor  of  Massachu 
setts. 

At  the  same  time  Governor  Banks  performed 
a  statesman-like  act  for  which  he  should  always 
be  credited.  He  summoned  all  the  militia  of  the 
state  to  meet  in  a  muster  on  Concord  plains,  where 
they  were  drilled  a  suitable  time  and  then  marched 
around  the  old  monument  on  the  battle-field,  with 
the  governor  at  their  head.  This  was  evidently 
intended  as  a  warning  to  secessionists. 

For  the  next  six  weeks  Mr.  Stearns  was  a  busy 
man.  He  was  not  only  active  in  Boston,  but  went 

231 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

to  New  York  to  consult  Horace  Greeley,  concern 
ing  whom  there  was  a  general  feeling  of  apprehen 
sion  since  the  Chicago  convention.  A  great  effort 
was  being  made  to  defeat  Andrew.  Beacon  Street* 
and  Harvard  University  were  aroused,  and  the 
Bell  and  Everett  torchlight  procession  in  Boston 
rivalled  that  of  the  Lincoln  wide-awakes.  The 
whole  community  was  in  a  state  of  the  severest 
tension,  and  yet  it  was  one  of  the  most  orderly 
elections  on  record. 

On  Saturday  evening  before  the  November  elec 
tion  Mr.  Stearns  had  just  returned  from  the  Bird 
Club,  when  a  long  procession  of  torches  was  seen 
winding  its  way  toward  the  house.  They  filled  the 
front  yard,  and  a  large  part  of  the  field  beyond. 
Three  cheers  were  given  for  George  L.  Stearns. 
He  came  out,  and  thanked  them  for  the  compli 
ment.  Then  the  candidate  for  state  senator  invited 
him  to  join  them  in  the  procession;  and  a  hollow 
square  was  formed  for  Mr.  Stearns,  the  senator, 
and  the  representative  from  Medford.  They  pro 
ceeded  to  an  open  field  on  Ship  Street,  where  hot 
coffee  and  crackers  were  provided,  and  the  senator 
and  representatives  made  speeches,  and  then  Mr. 
Stearns  was  called  on.  Standing  on  a  wooden 
box,  he  spoke  very  much  as  follows — in  his  hesi 
tating  manner: 

"  I  consider  this  to  be  the  most  important  elec 
tion  that  has  ever  taken  place  in  our  country.  On 
Tuesday  next  it  is  going  to  be  decided  whether  we 

*  Yet  Andrew  governed  so  wisely  that  in  four  years  he 
became  the  favorite  of  Beacon  Street. 

232 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

are  a  nation  of  free  men,  or  to  be  ruled  by  an 
oligarchy  of  slaveholders,  as  we  have  been  for  the 
past  twenty-five  years.  It  is  as  important  as  that 
battle  which  was  fought  over  there  by  our  grand 
fathers."  He  pointed  to  Bunker  Hill  Monument, 
which  nobody  could  see  owing  to  the  darkness. 
"  Now,"  he  said,  "  I  have  good  news  to  tell  you. 
I  was  with  Senator  Wilson  this  afternoon  and  he 
assured  me  there  could  be  no  question  but  that 
Lincoln  and  Hamlin  would  be  elected."  That 
naturally  caused  great  applause,  so  that  it  was 
some  minutes  before  Mr.  Stearns  could  proceed. 
Then  he  said :  "I  have  great  confidence  in  Mr. 
Wilson's  statement,  for  he  is  a  very  careful  man, 
who  does  not  like  to  be  found  in  the  wrong.  I 
can  also  tell  you,  that  we  are  going  to  have  the 
best  governor  that  has  ever  sat  in  the  state-house 
at  Boston,  and  I  do  not  except  Hancock  and 
Adams."  After  a  few  more  remarks,  Mr.  Stearns 
retired  amid  general  applause. 

I  can  see  him  now  standing  there  with  his  long 
beard  against  the  dark  sky,  surrounded  by  the 
flaring  torches,  his  face  full  of  earnestness  and 
determination. 

The  following  Tuesday  Mr.  Stearns  did  not 
return  until  after  eleven  o'clock.  He  walked  into 
the  house  like  a  young  man  and  said :  "  Abraham 
Lincoln  is  elected  President.  Pennsylvania,  Indiana 
and  Illinois  have  all  gone  Republican.  At  the  last 
moment  Wilson  had  a  panic  in  regard  to  New  York ; 
but  twenty  minutes  later  news  came  in  that  the 
state  was  carried  by  a  large  majority.  The  only 
funeral  is  that  Burlingame  has  been  defeated." 


233 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Anson  Burlingame  was  candidate  for  Congress 
in  one  of  the  Boston  districts,  and  his  defeat  was 
the  net  result  of  the  Bell  and  Everett  movement. 
It  proved,  however,  to  be  the  making  of  his  for 
tune. 

The  next  morning,  seeing  that  everybody  in 
the  house,  even  the  servants,  looked  unusually 
happy,  Mr.  Stearns  said :  "  While  we  have  good 
reason  to  rejoice  at  this  victory  we  ought  to  remem 
ber  that  there  are  thousands  of  others  who  are 
grievously  disappointed."  This  evidently  referred 
to  the  Federal  office-holders  who  would  lose  their 
places  with  the  change  of  administration;  and  he 
realized  only  too  well  what  it  meant  for  a  man 
to  have  his  bread  taken  away  from  him. 

Vanity  Fair  was  the  American  Punch  of  those 
days,  and  shortly  after  the  election  it  published  a 
cartoon  of  a  masked  headsman  standing  by  his 
block  with  an  axe  on  which  was  the  word  "  Rota 
tion."  Underneath  was  the  sentence,  "  The  Fourth 
of  March — a  hint  to  office-holders."  When  this 
was  shown  to  Mr.  Stearns  he  seemed  to  shiver 
all  through,  and  said:  "  Ah,  that  is  truly  terrible." 


234 


XV 

CIVIL  WAR 

SOUTH  CAROLINA  had  already  adopted  a  bellig 
erent  attitude  before  the  end  of  November ;  but  the 
embers  of  civil  war  were  still  smouldering  in 
Kansas,  and  ready  at  any  moment  to  burst  into  a 
flame.  The  following  extracts  from  a  letter  from 
Captain  Montgomery  to  Mr.  Stearns,  dated  Mound 
City,  Kansas,  November  20,  1860,  throw  more 
light  on  the  Pottawatomie  lynchings  than  all  the 
commentaries  that  have  been  published  in  regard 
to  that  dubious  subject: 

"  In  the  winter  of  '59,  after  the  second  expulsion  of 
Border-ruffians,  a  county  meeting,  duly  advertised  and 
largely  attended,  composed  mainly  of  Democrats  and  con 
servative  men,  Bob  Mitchell  himself  among  them,  passed  a 
series  of  resolutions  sustaining  the  jayhawkers,  and  con 
demning  to  perpetual  banishment  those  violent  men,  who 
had  been  forcibly  expelled.  The  resolutions  passed  unani 
mously,  even  Bob  Mitchell  voting  in  the  affirmative. 

"  In  fact,  it  was  plain  to  the  common  sense  of  every 
man  that  if  it  had  been  necessary  to  drive  them  out,  it  was 
necessary  to  keep  them  out.  Such  were  their  habits,  and 
the  violence  of  their  character,  that  it  were  vain  to  think 
of  living  with  them  on  peaceable  terms.  Our  '  Free-state ' 
Democrats  are,  to-day,  more  venomous  and  less  disposed 
to  forgive  and  forget  than  their  Border-ruffian  brethren. 

"Cowardly  and  sneaking,  they  are  the  men  to  plan  the 
schemes  for  assassination  which  they  depend  on  the 
'  Border-ruffians '  to  execute.  Striking  in  the  dark,  and 
keeping  their  names  and  numbers  concealed,  they  hoped 

235 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

to  stampede  the  whole  antislavery  force  of  the  territory 
Of  the  existence  of  this  '  dark  lantern  fraternity/  we  have 
incontestable  evidence. 

"  We  are  in  possession  not  only  of  their  plans,  but  even 
their  private  signals,  and,  as  in  the  case  of  More,  we  have 
evidence  sufficient  to  warrant  handling  several  of  them 
individually. 

"  We  have  had  several  additions  to  our  colored  popula 
tion  within  the  week,  while  several  of  our  Democratic 
friends  have  left  the  country.  A  friend  observed  to  me 
yesterday :  '  The  Democrats  are  leaving  and  the  Black 
Republicans  are  coming  in.' " 

The  lynching  of  More  and  Scott  in  the  autumn 
of  1860  did  not  differ  essentially  in  character  from 
the  Pottawatomie  lynching  in  1856.  It  is  not  to  be 
supposed  for  a  moment  that  Mr.  Stearns  approved 
of  such  proceedings,  but  he  recognized  more  clearly 
than  some  of  our  historians  do,  that  there  was  no 
law  of  any  value  on  the  borders  of  Kansas,  and 
that  the  only  justice  that  could  be  obtained  was  at 
the  muzzle  of  a  rifle.  We  may  judge  of  the  human 
material  with  which  Montgomery  had  to  deal  by 
the  secessionist  who  told  General  Grant  in  a  St. 
Louis  horse  car,  that  they  had  already  strung  up 
half  a  dozen  Union  men  in  his  county. 

The  pusillanimous  behavior  of  President 
Buchanan  was  now  the  universal  topic.  Vanity 
Fair  caricatured  him  as  a  candle  burning  out,  as  a 
toad  with  its  mouth  sealed  up,  and  in  various 
other  guises.  Mr.  Stearns  said  to  John  A. 
Andrew :  "  Let  us  go  to  Washington  and  survey 
the  ground  for  ourselves."  This  was  just  what 
Andrew  wished  to  do  himself  before  he  entered 
on  the  duties  of  governor;  so  in  the  middle  of 

236 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

December  they  started,  dining  and  discussing  the 
situation  with  leading  Republicans  in  New  York 
and  Philadelphia  by  the  way.  That  winter  Mr. 
Stearns  read  the  New  York  Herald  more  than  any 
other  paper,  because  he  said  he  wanted  to  know 
what  the  enemy  was  doing;  and  he  had  only 
reached  Philadelphia  when  he  found  this  para 
graph  in  it: 

"  Governor-elect  Andrew  of  Massachusetts  and  George 
L.  Stearns,  of  John  Brown  notoriety,  have  gone  to  Wash 
ington  together.  It  is  believed  the  object  of  their  visit  is 
to  brace  up  weak-kneed  Republicans." 

The  Herald  was  quite  right.  Messrs.  Andrew 
and  Stearns  used  very  bracing  language  to  all  mem 
bers  of  the  party  who  seemed  to  require  it.  Firm 
ness  was  the  word ;  and  they  made  good  use  of  it, 
even  to  Charles  Francis  Adams,  who  held  the  tra 
ditional  notion  of  his  family  that  it  would  be  better 
for  the  United  States  to  be  smaller  rather  than 
larger.  On  December  23,  Mr.  Stearns  wrote  to 
Dr.  S.  G.  Howe: 

"  DEAR  FRIEND  : 

"  Yours  of  20th  is  at  hand.  I  will  see  the  per 
sons  you  have  named  and  be  ready  to  report  as  soon 
as  I  have  returned  home.  Stone,  I  have  no  doubt, 
will  be  an  acquisition  of  great  value,  but  we  shall 
want  an  editor  of  equal  ability.  Some  persons  here 
say  that  we  must  have  $10,000  pledged  to  secure 
success,  and  my  present  plan  is  to  pay  a  manager 
and  editor  each  a  moderate  salary  and  one-half  the 
profits,  the  other  half  to  go  to  the  guaranty  fund,  or 

237 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

be  used  in  extending  the  paper.  To  succeed  we 
must  play  a  bold  game.  Andrew  appears  as  well 
as  usual.  We  are  having  a  right  good  time.  You 
will  see  all  the  Washington  gossip  in  the  papers 
before  this  reaches  you,  and  I  shall  only  give  the 
impression  it  has  made  on  me,  which  is  that  if 
any  Republican  members  vote  for  concession  or 
compromise  they  are  politically  dead.  If  a  ma 
jority  of  the  party  vote  for  it,  the  party  is  dead.  I 
have  to-day  seen  a  number  of  leading  men  and 
all  their  talk  was  a  resolution  for  the  impeachment 
of  the  President. 

"  We  are  told  Lincoln  says  no  friend  of  his  will 
propose  either  dissolution  or  concession.  Wilson 
says :  '  They  meet  us  with  long  faces,  and  we  laugh 
at  them  and  tell  them  to  go.'  In  the  Senate  Com 
mittee  of  Thirteen,  all  the  Republicans  voted  against 
the  compromises ;  which,  as  there  would  be  no  com 
promise  without  them,  was  understood  to  be  fatal. 
When  they  came  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  Wade 
told  them  that,  as  they  were  going  out  of  the  Union, 
there  was  no  need  of  voting  on  that,  for  it  would 
then  die  of  itself.  If  this  goes  on  much  further  I 
think  we  may  expect  the  immediate  abolition  of 
slavery,  even  if  it  requires  an  ocean  of  blood. 
If  war  with  the  Cotton  States  comes,  I  am  sure 
of  it. 

"  Yours  faithfully, 

"  GEORGE  L.  STEARNS." 

Few  realized  at  this  time  the  abyss  that  was 
yawning  beneath  the  republic.  On  Christmas  eve 
Mr.  Stearns  wrote  to  William  L.  Robinson,  of 
Boston : 

238 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

"  I  am  well  satisfied  that  the  Southern  Party  de 
termined  to  secede,  to  see  if  they  could  not  break 
up  the  Republican  Party,  which  they  hoped  to  do 
by  a  Northern  Panic.  They  expected  to  break  our 
banks,  paralyze  our  industry,  fail  our  merchants, 
and  starve  our  operatives.  That  this  was  and  is 
their  game  is  evident  by  their  constant  endeavors, 
both  in  public  and  private,  to  induce  the  North 
erners  to  make  some  proposition  as  a  bribe  to  in 
duce  them  to  remain  in  the  Union. 

"  They  have  failed.  Their  plan  is  exposed,  and 
the  effect  will  be  to  consolidate  the  Republican 
Party  more  closely  than  it  could  be  done  by  any 
other  means.  Neither  will  they  be  able  to  secede 
or  break  up  the  Union.  It  is  confessed  by  the  lead 
ers  of  the  Southern  Party,  they  have  now  lost  con 
trol  of  the  movement.  It  is  now  in  the  hands  of 
the  masses  and  they  tremble  before  the  storm  they 
have  raised.  If  any  proof  of  this  was  wanting,  the 
fact  that  eminent  Southern  men  of  strong  conserva 
tive  tendencies  are  now  most  inveterate  Fire-eaters, 
advocating  extreme  measures  that  their  private 
judgment  condemns,  is  conclusive  on  this  point. 

"  Here  the  leaders  are  sad ;  they  see  the  signs  of 
recuperation  at  the  North  and  the  daily  depreciation 
and  distress  at  the  South;  therefore  they  are 
anxious  for  a  compromise.  But  they  will  not  get 
it.  First,  because  a  compromise  is  not  possible  in 
the  nature  of  things;  and  secondly,  because  the 
Republican  Party  are  fully  determined  not  to  make 
one.  An  effective  compromise  is  not  possible  when 
the  parties  have  no  faith  in  each  other,  and  this  is 
the  case  with  the  Northern  and  Southern  parties. 

239 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

"Do  you  ask,  What  shall  we  do?  I  answer, 
Keep  quiet* 

"  I  told  you  a  short  time  since  that  no  act  of 
Congress  or  resolution  of  a  convention  could  be  of 
any  avail  to  settle  this  controversy.  That  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  Lord.  To-day  I  believe  it  more  firmly 
than  ever." 

Mr.  Stearns  returned  from  Washington  delighted 
with  Governor  Andrew.  "If  he  were  in  the 
Senate,"  he  said,  "  he  would  take  the  place  of  both 
Sumner  and  Wilson."  He  did  not,  however,  count 
on  Sumner's  physical  endurance,  which  was  one 
of  the  elements  of  his  success ;  and  he  was  almost 
shocked  afterwards  to  find  that  Andrew  did  not 
appreciate  Emerson:  he  appreciated  the  character 
of  the  man,  but  not  his  intellect.  Andrew  might 
have  made  a  great  jurist,  but  he  lacked  imagina 
tion. 

One  result  of  their  expedition  was  Governor 
Andrew's  order  to  have  the  equipment  of  the  state 
militia  placed  on  a  war  footing.  Massachusetts 
regiments  were  the  first  to  march  through  Bal 
timore. 

The  Crittenden  compromise  now  hove  in  sight — 
an  impracticable  attempt  to  bridge  the  yawning 
chasm  with  rotten  planks.  Crittenden,  the  natural 
successor  to  Henry  Clay,  was  an  honest  and  patri 
otic  Kentuckian ;  but  the  game  had  been  long  since 
played  out.  Nevertheless,  it  was  reported  in  Bos- 

*This  watchword  explains  Sumner's  attitude  during  the 
winter  of  1861.    Perhaps  it  originated  with  Sumner. 

240 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

ton  that  Sumner  would  support  the  measure  for  the 
sake  of  consistency  to  his  avowed  peace  principles. 
Mr.  Stearns  wrote  to  know  if  this  were  possible, 
and  received  the  following  telegram  in  reply : 

"  I   am   against   sending  commissioners   to   treat   of  sur 
render  by  the  North.     Stand  firm." 

Two  days  later  this  was  followed  by  a  memorable 
letter : 

WASHINGTON,  3d  Feb.,  '61. 

11  MY  DEAR  SIR  : 

"  There  are  but  few  who  stand  rooted,  like  the 
oak,  against  a  storm.  This  is  the  nature  of  man. 
Let  us  be  patient. 

"  My  special  trust  is  this.  No  possible  compro 
mise  or  concession  will  be  of  the  least  avail.  Events 
are  hastening  which  will  supersede  all  such  things. 
This  will  save  us.  But  I  hope  to  see  Massachusetts 
in  this  breaking  up  of  the  Union  ever  true.  God 
keep  her  from  playing  the  part  of  Judas  or — of 
Peter!  You  may  all  bend  or  cry  pardon — I  will 
not.  Here  I  am  and  I  mean  to  stand  firm  to  the 
last.  God  bless  you ! 

"  Ever  yours, 

"  CHARLES  SUMNER." 

One  has  to  study  the  Congressional  Globe  in 
order  to  realize  how  practical  a  statesman  Sumner 
was.  During  the  war  period  his  hand  was  every 
where,  and  always  effectively.  No  one  certainly 
understood  the  slavery  question  better,  if  any  so 
well.  His  course  from  1850  till  the  close  of  the 
war  was  a  straight  line  to  his  object ;  and  all  others, 
16  241 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

even  President  Lincoln  himself,  were  obliged  to 
give  way  before  him. 

It  is  well  known  that  it  was  considered  essential 
for  the  safety  of  the  President-elect  that  he  should 
enter  Washington  in  disguise.  Long  before  that 
Mr.  Stearns  had  become  anxious  in  regard  to 
Sumner's  safety,  and  the  last  of  January  he  wrote 
to  preacher  Stewart  of  Kansas  to  arrange  with 
him  to  go  to  Washington  and  watch  over  Sumner 
as  a  private  detective.  This  was  just  the  work 
which  Stewart  liked,  and  Mr.  Stearns  afterward 
learned  that,  although  he  did  not  neglect  his  duty 
to  the  senator,  Stewart  lived  a  wild  life  in  Wash 
ington  and  narrowly  missed  going  to  jail  himself. 
This  continued  until  after  Lincoln's  inauguration. 

At  the  same  time  Mr.  Stearns  wrote  to  Caleb  J. 
Pratt,  of  Lawrence  (and  probably  to  others  in 
Kansas),  urging  an  organization  of  state  militia  for 
fear  of  an  invasion  of  the  secessionists  from  Mis 
souri.*  Mr.  Pratt  replied  that  there  was  a  militia 
company  in  Lawrence,  but  that  it  would  require  a 
thousand  dollars  to  place  it  in  an  efficient  condition. 
Whether  or  not  Mr.  Stearns  provided  this  sum  is 
unknown. 

The  following  letter  in  Mr.  Stearns'  own  writing 
was  probably  written  to  Sumner,  but  is  without 
date  or  address: 

"  Of  what  use,  then,  will  it  be  for  the  Republicans  to 
debase  themselves  by  offering  propositions  of  settlement 
to  Jefferson  Davis  and  his  friends?  He  knows  well  enough 

*  It  was  the  German  element  in  eastern  Missouri  that 
prevented  this,  and  saved  the  state  to  the  Union. 

242 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

that  should  the  leading  Southerners  accept  any  of  the 
terms  offered,  and  then,  going  to  Charleston  or  New  Orleans, 
tell  the  mob  that  they  have  settled  the  dispute,  and  from 
that  time  they  must  be  quiet,  for  the  United  States  authority 
would  again  be  extended  over  the  South,  that  they  would 
hang  them,  as  abolitionists.  Will  New  Mexico  give  them 
fresh  lands,  and  cheap  slaves?  Or  will  any  constitutional 
guaranty  perform  the  same  office  for  them?  These  have 
been  promised  to  the  Mexicans.  They  will  require  them 
at  the  hands  of  their  leaders,  and  if  the  promise  is  not 
fulfilled,  they  will  take  their  recompense  where  they  can 
get  it" 

One  compromise  failed  after  another,  until 
finally,  on  the  3d  of  March,  the  mere  shadow  of 
a  compromise  in  the  shape  of  a  constitutional 
amendment  prohibiting  the  interference  of  Congress 
with  slavery  in  the  states  where  it  already  existed 
was  passed  by  the  dubious  majority  of  a  single 
vote.  As  Congress  had  never  undertaken  such  an 
interference  and  as  no  one,  not  even  Sumner,  had 
ever  proposed  it,  this  amendment  amounted  to 
nothing,  and  was  never  ratified  by  the  legislatures 
of  the  states.  The  next  day  Lincoln  became  Presi 
dent,  and  the  Union  was  divided — never  to  be 
restored  except  by  force. 

For  Lincoln  and  Seward  to  have  permitted  the 
secession  of  the  slave  states  was  simply  impracti 
cable.  The  capital  of  the  nation  would  no  longer 
be  safely  located,  on  the  border  of  a  foreign  state. 
It  would  have  been  necessary  to  remove  it  further 
north;  and  this  would  have  been  so  humiliating 
that  no  people  with  a  just  feeling  of  national  pride 
could  or  would  have  endured  it.  Moreover,  a  gov 
ernment  which  permits  its  authority  to  be  disputed 

243 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

by  one  pertion  of  its  subjects  loses  the  respect  of 
them  all ;  and  a  government  that  is  not  respected 
soon  goes  to  pieces. 

The  first  month  of  Lincoln's  administration  was 
taken  up  in  making  appointments.  This  was  the 
more  important  as  Buchanan's  office-holders  were 
not  only  tainted  with  disloyalty,  but  in  numerous 
cases  very  corrupt.  His  postmasters  had  been  in 
the  habit  of  opening  letters,  and  his  officials  in  the 
custom-houses  enriched  themselves  at  the  public 
expense.  In  1861  civil-service  reform  meant  a 
clean  sweep  of  the  broom ;  and  though  many  excel 
lent  men  suffered  from  this  there  was  no  time  for 
discrimination. 

President  Lincoln  gave  Sumner  the  disposition 
of  the  most  important  offices  in  Boston,  and  if  all 
United  States  senators,  and  cabinet  officers,  had 
been  like  Sumner,  there  never  would  have  been 
occasion  for  a  civil-service  commission.  He  never 
proposed  a  personal  friend  for  an  office,  and  it  is 
doubtful  if  he  ever  consulted  his  own  interest  in 
an  appointment.  Frank  W.  Bird  might  well  have 
been  made  collector  of  the  port  in  consideration 
for  his  services  to  the  Republican  party,  but  Mr. 
Bird  did  not  ask  it  and  Sumner  appointed  instead 
Mr.  Goodrich,  a  worthy  merchant  of  the  city  who 
had  failed  in  the  panic  of  1857.  Mr.  Stearns  had 
a  hand  in  this.  Sumner  was  slow  and  conscientious 
in  making  his  decision.  The  third  week  of  March 
Mr.  Stearns  went  on  to  Washington  again.  Sum 
ner  greeted  him  cordially,  and  immediately  asked 
his  advice.  Mr.  Stearns  advocated  Goodrich  for 
collector  and  Dr.  Palfrey  for  postmaster  of  Bos- 

244 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

ton;  and  both  were  appointed.*  He  gave  Mr. 
Stearns  the  disposal  of  a  number  of  minor  offices 
in  the  custom-house  and  the  navy-yard. 

On  his  return  through  New  York  Mr.  Stearns 
called  on  Perkins  and  Schmidt  to  purchase  lead. 
When  they  asked  him,  "  Are  we  going  to  have 
peace  or  war  ?  "  he  said :  "  I  think  it  will  be  war. 
If  there  is  a  fight  going  on  in  the  street  between 
two  draymen,  there  will  be  three  persons  who  will 
want  to  see  it  out,  where  one  will  wish  to  stop 
it."  "Bullets  are  made  of  lead,  Mr.  Stearns," 
said  Mr.  Perkins,  laughing. 

If  Mr.  Stearns  had  expended  his  energy  during 
the  war  on  money-making,  like  Commodore  Van- 
derbilt,  he  might  easily  have  become  a  millionaire. 
He  did  not,  however,  neglect  his  own  affairs  dur 
ing  ,  these  patriotic  excursions.  His  chief  clerk 
wrote  him  a  letter  every  day  while  he  was  absent, 
to  which  Mr.  Stearns  replied  by  telegraph,  if  nec 
essary. 

The  war  was  precipitated  by  Seward's  refusal 
to  receive  the  rebel  commissioners.  This  was  equiv 
alent  to  a  withdrawal  of  diplomatic  relations,  and 
the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter  ensued  as  a  matter  of 
course. 

On  the  Sunday  following  this  event  Mr.  Stearns 
went  to  Boston  to  consult  with  Governor  Andrew 
in  regard  to  the  unprotected  condition  of  Kansas. 
Going  to  State  Street  to  learn  the  news,  he  found 
Fletcher  Webster  on  the  balcony  of  the  old  state- 

*  Dr.  Palfrey  never  knew  this  until  the  writer  informed 
him  of  it  in  1878. 

245 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

house  speaking  to  a  large  audience,  in  which  nearly 
everyone  wore  a  silk  hat.  Beacon  Street  was  rally 
ing  to  the  support  of  the  government.  Judge  Rus 
sell  told  Mr.  Stearns  that  Webster  intended  to  raise 
a  regiment,  and  Mr.  Stearns  was  glad  to  know  it. 
The  territorial  government  of  Kansas  had 
neither  means  nor  authority  to  enlist  troops,  and 
applications  to  the  government  at  Washington  pro 
duced  no  results.  Finally  a  delegation  of  Kansas 
men  composed  of  James  H.  Lane,  George  W.  Col- 
lamore,  Judge  Ewing,  and  others  determined  to 
go  to  Washington,  and  Mr.  Stearns  agreed  to  meet 
them  there  the  second  week  of  May.  At  the  same 
time  Mr.  Stearns  was  doing  his  utmost  to  secure 
Judge  Conway's  reelection.  On  May  4  the  latter 
wrote  to  him  from  Lawrence,  Kansas : 

"DEAR  SIR: 

"  I  have  drawn  upon  you  at  sight  for  $300,  by  draft  of 
date  3d  May,  in  favor  of  Geo.  W.  Collamore,  Esq.  My 
prospects  of  a  reelection  are  becoming  much  more  favorable, 
and  it  is  now  highly  probable  that  I  will  be  successful. 

"  I  have  just  received  a  noble  letter  from  Senator  Sumner 
which  will  be  of  good  assistance  to  me. 
"Very  truly  yours, 

"M.  F.  CONWAY." 

Mr.  Stearns  started  for  Washington  the  morn 
ing  of  May  6,  going  first  to  Albany  to  see  Gov 
ernor  Morgan  of  New  York.  He  did  not  find 
much  satisfaction,  however,  in  Governor  Morgan, 
whom  he  described  in  a  letter  to  his  wife  as  too 
much  like  a  certain  character  in  A  Midsummer 
Night's  Dream — "  a  politician  of  the  Thurlow 
Weed  school." 

246 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

The  same  night  he  left  for  New  York  in  a  sleep 
ing-car — such  as  they  were  in  those  times — and 
lunched  the  next  day  with  John  Hopper,  at  Del- 
monico's.  Such  a  dinner  as  that  was;  for  Mr. 
Hopper  could  talk  with  any  man  of  his  time.  He 
said :  "  Last  week  I  went  to  my  old  oyster-dealer 
to  get  some  Virginia  oysters,  and  he  told  me,  '  I 
cannot  give  you  Virginia  oysters;  the  rebels  have 
seized  my  schooner,  and  hung  my  captain/  What 
do  you  think  of  that  ?  I  tell  you,  Stearns,  it  would 
be  better  to  let  those  devils  go,  if  we  did  not  have 
to  live  alongside  of  them.  As  it  is,  we  must  either 
crush  them  out,  or  be  crushed  ourselves."  "  I 
consider  non-resistance  an  unmitigated  humbug," 
said  this  scion  of  Quakerism  in  conclusion.  Mr. 
Stearns  was  sanguine  that  the  rebellion  would  be 
suppressed. 

In  the  afternoon  he  was  off  to  Philadelphia, 
where  he  had  a  good  night's  rest;  and  this  was 
fortunate,  for  the  next  day,  when  he  started  for 
Washington,  the  train  had  a  battery  of  flying 
artillery  on  board,  and  somewhere  in  Delaware  it 
stuck  on  an  up  grade,  and  he  did  not  reach  Annapo 
lis — charmingly  quiet  and  peaceful  old  city — until 
midnight.  At  Annapolis  junction  there  was 
another  detention,  and  Mr.  Stearns  walked  up  and 
down  the  platform  talking  politics  with  a  very 
gentlemanly  New  Yorker  who  had  divided  his 
lunch  with  him  on  the  boat.  It  was  two  in  the 
morning  when  Mr.  Stearns  reached  Willard's 
Hotel,  only  to  find  its  southern  ell  in  a  bright  blaze. 
A  score  of  fire-zouaves  were  trying  to  extinguish 
the  flames,  and  performed  wonderful  gymnastics 

247 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

on  the  walls  and  roofs.  It  was  a  strange  sight  to 
see  weary  travellers  registering  their  names  in  a 
house  that  was  on  fire.  Mr.  Stearns  said :  "  There 
is  no  rest  for  me  here  " — two  o'clock  A.M. — and 
then,  seizing  his  valise,  started  for  another  hotel. 
The  zouaves  put  out  the  fire,  and  next  morning 
Mr.  Stearns  returned  to  Willard's,  where  he  met 
the  Kansas  delegation  and  held  a  council  with 
them.  Nothing  had  as  yet  been  accomplished. 
Washington  was  all  excitement  and  confusion; 
and  only  the  most  pressing  matters  could  obtain 
attention.  Seward  was  inaccessible,  and  Cameron 
could  only  make  general  promises.  They  con 
cluded  to  go  to  Montgomery  Blair,  the  postmaster- 
general,  whose  brother  was  operating  against  the 
rebels  in  Missouri.  Blair  was  found  to  be  fully 
alive  to  the  necessity  of  protecting  Kansas,  and 
promised  to  speak  of  the  matter  at  the  next  cabinet 
meeting.  In  the  evening  of  May  10,  Mr.  Stearns 
wrote  to  his  wife: 

"We  are  well,  and  I  have  the  satisfaction  of  not  coming 
here  for  nothing.  There  is  a  hitch  on  in  the  arming  of 
Kansas  men  that  I  am  trying  to  remove.  There  are  B. 
movements  here  that  I  shall  probably  control,  and  in  other 
ways  I  am  making  myself  useful  to  my  country. 

"  This  is  the  place  for  rumors,  but  nothing  more  is  known 
here  than  in  Boston.  There  is  a  daily  expectation  of  an 
attack  by  one  party  or  the  other,  but  I  do  not  think  either 
party  will  risk  a  great  battle." 

On  the  1 6th  he  wrote  again: 

"  Yesterday  afternoon,  in  furtherance  of  my  plans,  I  went 
to  Silver  Spring  to  see  old  Mr.  Blair.  He  received  me  very 
cordially,  and,  talking  about  the  war,  I  asked  him,  '  What 

248 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

news  from  Missouri  ? '  He  told  me  that  he  was  afraid 
his  son  Frank  had  gone  to  Jefferson  City  with  troops,  and 
there  was  danger  that  the  Missourians  would  rise  and  be 
too  strong  for  them,  but  he  hoped  to  hear  that  Jim  Lane 
had  gone  to  Arkansas  with  two  regiments  of  Kansas  troops 
to  make  a  diversion.  When  I  told  him  that  no  troops  had 
been  equipped  in  Kansas,  and  Jim  Lane  was  sick  at  Altoona, 
Pennsylvania,  on  his  way  to  Washington,  he  said  something 
should  be  done  immediately  and  we  must  go  to  the  President. 
I  then  laid  before  him  the  requests  of  Collamore  and  also 
of  Stewart,  for  regiments,  and  we  agreed  to  meet  at  ten 
to-morrow  and  see  what  could  be  done." 

Old  Frank  P.  Blair,  the  contemporary  of  Jack 
son  and  Benton,  was  unable  to  keep  his  appoint 
ment  to  see  the  President,  but  he  wrote  a  letter  to 
his  son  urging  vigorous  action.  Montgomery 
Blair  exerted  himself  to  such  purpose  that  the 
Kansas  delegation  obtained  authority  to  raise  two 
regiments  mainly  at  government  expense,  and  the 
promise  of  a  field  battery. 

Mr.  Stearns  returned  to  Boston,  talking  half 
the  night  with  John  M.  Forbes  in  a  sleeping-car; 
and  the  following  Saturday  he  told  the  Bird  Club 
that  it  was  easier  to  obtain  a  foreign  appointment 
than  to  persuade  the  government  to  accept  a  regi 
ment  of  volunteers. 

At  this  same  time  the  so-called  Confederate 
Government  found  great  difficulty  in  recruiting 
regiments.  It  was  only  able  to  concentrate  about 
twenty-five  thousand  troops  at  Bull  Run  in  July, 
and  this  was  not  enough  to  gain  a  decisive  victory. 

George  S.  Hillard  and  most  of  the  old  Whigs 
were  satisfied  by  this  time  that  the  country  was 
going  to  destruction.  A  wealthy  friend  of  Hil- 

249 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

lard's  purchased  an  immense  tract  of  western  land 
for  the  security  of  his  children.  Mrs.  Hillard  did 
not  like  to  believe  this  and  wrote  to  Mr.  Stearns 
for  advice  and  encouragement.  He  replied  to  her 
June  10 : 

"  MY  DEAR  MRS.  HILLARD  : 

"  It  is  so  many  thousand  soldiers ;  so  many  million 
negroes;  and  so  many  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  My 
mind  is  confused  with  it  all,  but  I  trust  we  shall  live  through 
this  distracted  condition  of  affairs  and  see  blue  sky  again. 

"  There  was  a  man  who  lived  in  Medford,  who  was  called 
Bill  Hall.  He  traded  with  the  West  Indies,  and  it  was 
'  molasses  and  niggers '  and  '  niggers  and  molasses ;  '  and 
he  did  not  feel  quite  sure  which  was  which;  but  he  had  an 
idea  that  if  the  niggers  were  liberated  he  should  lose  his 
molasses.  There  are  a  good  many  like  him  in  the  city  of 
Boston,  but  the  time  is  approaching  when  they  will  be 
obliged  to  discriminate  between  negroes  and  molasses,  and 
recognize  that  the  negro  is  a  man  and  not  a  kind  of  mer 
chandise. 

"Yours  faithfully, 

"  GEORGE  L.  STEARNS." 

Two  days  later  he  was  off  to  Washington  again 
to  see  about  the  Kansas  regiments,  for  which 
Sumner  fortified  him  with  this  letter  to  the  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury: 

"BOSTON,  nth  June,  '60. 
"  MY  DEAR  CHASE  : 

"  Mr.  Stearns,  the  devoted  friend  of  Kansas, 
one  of  our  most  earnest,  generous,  and  noble 
friends,  whose  purse  has  been  always  open  and  his 
mind  always  active  for  the  good  cause,  has  occa 
sion  to  see  you.  I  commend  him  cordially. 
"  Ever  yours, 

"  CHARLES  SUMNER." 
250 


SALMON   P.   CHASE 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

James  H.  Lane  had  recovered  from  his  illness 
at  Altoona  and  was  meditating  great  designs.  He 
wanted  to  be  made  a  major-general  with  three 
brigades,  and  attack  the  Southern  Confederacy  in 
the  rear.  George  W.  Collamore  was  to  be  his 
brigadier-general.  Mr.  Stearns  liked  the  plan. 
We  have  no  account  of  his  interview  with  Secre 
tary  Chase,  but  on  June  17  he  wrote  to  Mrs. 
Stearns : 

"  I  wrote  you  a  long  letter  last  night.  To-day  I  have 
obtained  for  Collamore  an  order  from  the  Secretary  of 
War  for  three  Kansas  regiments,  including  all  their  supplies, 
to  be  furnished  by  the  United  States.  Of  one  William  A. 
Phillips  is  to  be  colonel,  and  Stewart  one  of  the  captains. 
It  will  be  the  crack  regiment  of  that  state.  I  have  also  laid 
my  plan  for  sending  off  the  fugitives.  F.  P.  Blair,  Sr., 
approves  and  will  aid  the  enterprise,  remarking  it  will  never 
do  to  return  them  to  bondage.  I  am  happy," 

The  following  day  he  wrote  again: 

"  All  my  work  prospers.  The  Governor  is  anxious  to  get 
rid  of  the  slaves,  and  I  expect  will  facilitate  their  exodus. 

"  Collamore  has  left  for  Kansas  with  authority  to  raise 
and  fully  equip  three  regiments,  which  equipment  is  so 
much  extra.  They  do  not  grant  it  to  others. 

"  Blair  wants  me  to  go  to  Fort  Munroe  and  see  Butler 
about  it.  This  will  take  three  days  more,  and  then  for 
our  dear  home. 

"Jim  Lane  means  to  be  in  New  Orleans  by  December." 

Jim  Lane  never  reached  New  Orleans,  prefer 
ring  a  United  States  Senatorship  to  military  glory ; 
but  this  organization  served  to  form  a  wing  of 
General  Sigel's  army  at  the  battle  of  Pea  Ridge, 

251 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

the  first  decisive  Union  victory  of  the  war.     Mr. 
Stearns  wrote  again  on  June  22 : 

"  Only  think  of  Colonel  James  Montgomery,  United  States 
volunteers;  Captain  John  E.  Stewart,  same  service.  If 
Stewart  had  asked  me  for  it  he  would  have  been  Colonel 
Stewart,  altho'  I  think  it  better  as  it  is." 

During  Buchanan's  administration  Montgomery 
and  Stewart  were  both  outlaws.  Now  by  a  sudden 
change  of  fortune's  wheel  the  outlaws  were  on  the 
other  side  of  the  fence.  Mr.  Stearns  wrote  from 
Washington,  June  24: 

"  Success  attends  me  everywhere.  I  left  Saturday  P.M. 
for  Fortress  Monroe.  Mr.  Blair  gave  me  a  letter  of  intro 
duction  to  General  Butler,  concluding  with,  '  I  like  him  and 
think  you  will.' 

"  This  put  me  in  direct  communication  with  him,  and  we 
had  a  free  talk  on  the  way  to  Newport  News  and  back. 
He  took  me  with  him  in  his  despatch-boat.  Butler's  views 
coincided  with  Blair's,  and  mine  so  far.  He  says  that  the 
freedmen  must  be  removed  when  they  press  on  him,  but  that 
is  not  yet.  They  more  than  earn  their  rations.  There  are 
about  350,  including  60  women  and  children,  there ;  but  have 
not  increased  lately,  because,  the  masters  having  first  run 
away  from  the  neighborhood  of  our  troops,  the  slaves  remain 
and  live  on  the  best  of  the  rebel  plantations,  and  work  or 
play  as  they  choose.  As  he  keeps  those  who  come  to  him 
at  work  they  prefer  to  live  at  home  in  the  absence  of  their 
masters,  and  do  as  they  please.  He  says  there  is  now 
$250,000  worth  of  sweet  potatoes  in  the  ground  near  Norfolk, 
and  no  market  for  them.  These  will  keep  the  slaves  until 
the  cold  weather ;  then  we  must  take  care  of  them. 

"  I  have  had  a  long  talk  with  Sumner  to-day,  or  rather  I 
talked  to  him  an  hour,  he  listening  attentively,  and  then, 
being  interrupted,  we  adjourned  it  to  this  evening.  The 
result  of  this  conference  you  will  learn  on  my  return  home." 

252 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Much  that  Mr.  Stearns  said  and  did  was  confided 
to  his  wife  alone,  and  is  buried  with  her.  It  was 
only  by  rare  chance  that  she  committed  anything 
to  paper.  He  was  silent  enough  at  home,  but  the 
man  whom  Sumner  would  listen  to  for  an  hour, 
must  have  been  worth  hearing.  We  may  judge 
from  the  context  that  this  conversation  related  to 
the  welfare  of  the  "  contraband,"  who  would  be 
certain  to  be  liberated  on  the  advance  of  the  Union 
army  to  Richmond ;  but  whatever  plans  Mr.  Stearns 
had  at  this  time  were  either  checked  or  retarded 
by  the  defeat  at  Bull  Run. 

On  July  12  Judge  Con  way  wrote  to  him: 

"  I  have  no  doubt  of  Mr.  Chase's  recommendation  as  to 
the  duty  on  lead  being  adopted  by  Congress.  I  shall  vote 
for  all  Mr.  Chase's  recommendations,  and  I  suppose  the 
members  generally  would  do  the  same." 

Congress  had  met  on  the  Fourth  of  July  and  had 
immediately  admitted  Kansas  into  the  Union,  giv 
ing  seats  to  Lane  and  Conway  as  senator  and 
representative.  It  will  be  noticed  that  Conway, 
who  owed  his  election  to  Mr.  Stearns  and  was  in 
a  measure  his  political  man  of  business,  intended 
to  vote  for  the  duty  on  lead,  although  he  must 
have  known  that  duties  on  raw  material  are  to  the 
disadvantage  of  manufacturers.  That  Mr.  Stearns 
should  have  wished  to  learn  as  soon  as  possible 
which  way  the  wind  would  blow  was  natural  and 
proper,  but  he  did  not  believe  in  the  theory  that 
the  public  welfare  is  best  served  by  every  man's 
pushing  his  own  personal  interest, — rather  in  the 

253 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Roman  maxim  that  a  great  nation  can  only  be 
supported  by  great  personal  sacrifices. 

Ten  days  later  came  the  news  of  the  defeat  at 
Bull  Run;  and  while  others  were  mourning  over 
it  Mr.  Stearns  said :  "  It  is  the  first  step  toward 
the  emancipation.  If  we  had  won  a  decisive  vic 
tory,  in  less  than  six  months  the  rebellious  states 
would  be  back  in  the  Union,  the  government  would 
be  out-voted  in  Congress,  and  we  should  have  all 
our  work  to  do  over  again." 

A  just  account  of  this  battle  has  never  yet  been  given 
to  the  public.  Dr.  Ropes,  who  wrote  the  best  statement 
of  McClellan's  campaign,  has  given  a  very  inadequate  one 
of  Bull  Run.  It  is  doutbful  if  his  figures  are  correct. 
General  Sherman,  who  took  part  in  the  battle,  calls  it  one 
of  the  best  planned  and  the  worst  fought  engagements  of 
the  war.  The  Confederate  plan  was  similar  to  that  of 
Waterloo  on  the  British  side;  and  yet  they  were  unable 
to  carry  it  out.  Few  prisoners  were  taken,  and  no  serious 
pursuit  was  attempted. 


254 


XVI 
WATCHING  FOR  THE  HOUR 

GEORGE  L.  STEARNS,  always  sanguine,  never 
despaired  of  the  Union  cause.  In  the  darkest  hours 
of  the  war  he  would  say:  "  The  North  is  sure  to 
conquer  in  the  end  on  account  of  its  industrial 
superiority.  There  is  much  more  danger  that  some 
compromise  will  be  patched  up  and  the  work  left 
half  done."  With  a  born  diplomatist  and  political 
match-maker  like  Seward  for  secretary  of  state 
there  was  always  danger  of  this;  but  the  best 
friends  of  the  cause  at  this  time  were  the  slave 
holders  themselves.  They  might  have  obtained 
peace  at  any  time  by  returning  to  their  allegiance 
and  accepting  a  compensation  for  their  slaves ;  but 
the  ingrained  superstition  that  slavery  was  essen 
tial  to  living  in  a  warm  climate  prevented  their 
doing  this. 

The  reverse  at  Bull  Run  had  a  decidedly  con 
servative  effect  on  the  administration,  which 
reacted  also  upon  Congress.  It  is  possible  that 
Wells  and  Cameron  were  afraid  for  their  personal 
safety.  This  tendency  was  aggravated  by  the 
appointment  of  General  McClellan  to  the  command 
of  the  army  of  the  Potomac.  He  had  already 
declared  his  intention  to  put  down  slave  insurrec 
tions  with  an  iron  hand,  and  this  was  sufficient  to 
indicate  his  political  proclivities.  His  house  in 
Washington  soon  became  the  focus  of  a  political 

255 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

movement  which  was  intended  to  upset  the  Repub 
lican  party.  "  This,"  said  General  Sherman  long 
afterward,  "was  fatal  to  Mr.  McClellan's  suc 
cess  ;  "  but  Lincoln  and  Seward  could  not  help 
being  conscious  of  it,  and  it  placed  the  administra 
tion  in  a  most  trying  position. 

Congress  adjourned  in  August,  and  Con  way 
returned  to  Kansas,  whence  he  wrote  Mr.  Stearns 
a  rather  doleful  account  of  the  condition  of  affairs. 
Under  date  of  August  18  he  says: 

"An  attack  by  the  Southern  force  is  daily  expected  on 
Fort  Scott,  which  has  been  made  the  depot  recently  of 
large  supplies  of  provisions.  The  place  is  but  poorly 
defended,  and  will  probably  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 
We  have  not  arms  enough.  The  Government  has  been  too 
slow.  Our  military  is  in  a  very  backward  state.  Lane 
is  at  work,  doing  his  best  to  hasten  their  organization.  He 
is  now  on  his  way  to  Fort  Scott.  Many  persons  charge 
Governor  Robinson  with  having  thrown  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  the  organization  of  Lane's  brigade,  which  I  think 
quite  likely."  * 

A  month  later  Mr.  Stearns  wrote  to  John  G. 
Whittier,  urging  him  to  exert  his  poetic  genius 
again  in  the  cause  of  emancipation,  and  received 
this  reply,  dated  September  13: 

"  DR.  FRIEND  : 

"  Owing  to  absence  from  home,  I  did  not  see  thy 
letter  until  last  evening. 

"  It  would  have  given  me  pleasure  to  have  at 
tended  your  meeting  of  the  loth  inst. 

"  I  presume  I  should  fully  agree  with  you  as  to 

*  Appendix  A. 
256 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

the  duty  and  expediency  of  striking  more  directly 
at  the  real  cause  of  the  war.  As  heretofore  I  shall 
use  all  my  endeavors  to  this  end.  If  the  present 
terrible  struggle  does  not  involve  emancipation, 
partial  or  complete,  it  is,  at  once,  a  most  wicked 
and  the  most  ludicrous  war  ever  waged. 

"  Thanking  thee  and  thy  friends  for  the  invita 
tion,  I  shall  be  happy  to  cooperate  with  you  to  the 
extent  of  my  power. 

"  Thou  wast  deeply  interested  in  John  Brown,  I 
think.  Let  me  call  thy  attention  to  a  poem,  '  Our 
First  Martyr/  by  Miss  Phoebe  Gary,  of  New 
York,  in  the  last  Independent. 

"Very  truly  thy  fd., 

"  JOHN  G.  WHITTIER." 

Mr.  Stearns'  political  activity  during  the  next 
nine  months  is  only  to  be  gleaned  from  the  letters 
of  others.  His  own  letters  were  widely  scattered, 
and  an  attempt  to  collect  them  would  have  been 
almost  futile.  It  was  a  period  of  watching  and 
waiting,  and  though  always  ready  to  apply  his 
hand  where  there  was  work  to  be  done,  there  would 
seem  to  have  been  little  opportunity  for  this.  Judge 
Conway  wrote  to  him  from  Washington,  Novem 
ber  i : 

"  Our  Administration  is  undoubtedly  pro-slavery.  Its 
object  is  to  bring  the  old  elements  into  power,  which  used 
to  exist  North  and  South  as  the  Whig  party,  espewing  the 
'  Wooley  Head '  faction  and  taking  in  the  '  Silver  Grey/ 
Lincoln  is  an  old  Kentucky  Whig,  and  Seward  has  gone 
over.  They  are  pro-slavery ;  but  talk  about  placing  slavery 
where  '  it  will  be  in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction,'  which 
is  an  utter  fallacy." 

17  257 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

This  was  the  prevailing  view  of  the  administra 
tion  during  the  autumn  of  1861.  What  President 
Lincoln's  real  opinions  were  at  that  time,  not  even 
his  private  secretaries  would  seem  to  have  known. 
He  had  a  wonderful  faculty  for  keeping  his  own 
counsel.  It  may  have  been  the  best  policy  that  he 
could  have  pursued.  Seward's  proclamation  to 
foreign  powers  that  the  war  was  not  an  antislavery 
war  certainly  injured  our  cause  in  England,  but  it 
helped  the  Union  cause  in  the  Northern  states. 
An  army  had  to  be  raised  and  a  large  portion  of  the 
recruits  must  be  taken  from  the  Democratic  party. 
General  McClellan  was  of  the  opinion  that  not  less 
than  six  months  would  be  required  for  this.  Per 
haps  the  administration  was  also  waiting  and 
watching. 

The  struggle  on  the  slavery  question  was  never 
more  intense  than  during  the  next  twelve  months. 
Early  in  December  Conway  made  his  maiden 
speech  in  Congress,  boldly  affirming  that  the  war 
never  could  succeed,  nor  the  Union  be  restored 
again,  except  on  antislavery  lines.  Mr.  Stearns 
wished  to  have  the  speech  printed  and  distributed 
broadcast.  On  Christmas  Day  Conway  wrote : 

"  My  speech  will  appear  in  extenso  in  the  Daily,  Tri- 
Weekly,  and  Weekly  Tribune.  It  will  be  in  the  next 
Weekly,  and  perhaps  to-morrow's  Daily,  but  this  latter  is 
not  certain. 

"  One  thousand  copies  of  the  Daily  (in  wrappers)  will 
be  sent  to  me  for  franking,  of  which  I  will  send  you  the 
greater  portion. 

"  The  expense  will  be  $275." 

In    February    Mr.    Stearns    published    another 
258 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

speech  for  Conway;  not  as  a  personal  favor,  for 
Conway  himself  would  have  resisted  that,  but  for 
the  good  of  the  cause.  During  most  of  the  year 
1862  Mr.  Stearns  kept  a  clerk  busy  circulating 
documents  and  addresses  by  Sumner,  Phillips, 
Andrew,  and  others,  but  his  private  affairs  were 
now  requiring  more  attention  from  him.  Business 
was  good,  but  the  suspension  of  specie  payments 
made  the  future  look  dark  and  dubious.  Mr. 
Stearns  never  read  a  political  economy  in  his  life, 
so  he  escaped  the  dangers  of  that  misleading  in 
fluence.  His  simple  good  sense  and  love  of  verac 
ity  indicated  that  the  safe  course  for  him  was  to 
keep  his  business  continually  on  a  gold  basis. 
Others  took  the  risk  of  a  rise  or  fall  and  sometimes 
lost,  but  Mr.  Stearns  preserved  the  even  tenor  of 
his  way  without  paying  much  attention  to  the  index 
of  the  gold  board.  When  the  superintendent  of 
the  Lowell  railroad  asked  him  how  he  managed  his 
affairs  in  such  troublesome  times,  he  said :  "  I 
take  an  account  of  stock  often,  and  then  I  pur 
chase  gold  equal  to  the  material  on  hand.  In  that 
way  I  secure  myself  against  both  good  and  evil 
fortune." 

The  hopefulness  of  the  abolitionists  and  Free- 
soilers  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  had  now  changed 
to  an  almost  painful  condition  of  doubt  and  uncer 
tainty.  They  looked  upon  Seward  as  a  traitor,  and 
they  thought  they  saw  in  McClellan  a  second 
Jackson  or  Taylor,  who,  if  successful,  would  be 
carried  into  the  presidential  chair  by  a  popular 
wave  in  1864.  For  this  reason  they  redoubled  their 
exertions.  Beecher  fairly  thundered  in  his  Brook- 

259 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

lyn  pulpit;  Greeley  wrote  his  most  fiery  editorials; 
Boston  Music  Hall  resounded  with  applause  at 
Phillips'  fearless  eloquence ;  while  every  antislavery 
editor  throughout  the  North  clamored  for  the 
emancipation.  Sumner,  Wade,  and  Wilson  stood 
like  rocks  in  the  Senate,  and  there  were  few  who 
dared  to  interfere  with  them.  Governor  Andrew 
went  to  Washington  and  interviewed  the  President 
himself. 

Charles  W.  Slack,  a  member  of  the  Bird  Club, 
was  highly  useful  at  this  time  in  preserving  the 
organization  of  Theodore  Parker's  society.  With 
this  body  as  a  nucleus,  Boston  Music  Hall  was 
filled  every  Sunday  by  an  audience  for  which  Mr. 
Slack  obtained  the  ablest  speakers  and  preachers. 
These  Sunday  gatherings  could  hardly  be  called 
religious  services,  for  politics  and  negro  philan 
thropy  were  the  universal  theme.  The  orthodox 
James  H.  Manning  was  followed  by  Lucretia  Mott, 
a  Quaker  preacher  of  Philadelphia.  It  was  a  free 
political  church,  and  more  than  once  W'endell 
Phillips  was  obliged  to  enter  it  surrounded  by  a 
body-guard  of  his  younger  friends.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Stearns  attended  these  meetings  whenever  the 
weather  permitted  and  usually  had  seats  on  the 
platform.  When  springtime  came  they  often  in 
vited  the  speaker  with  other  friends  to  their  house 
to  dinner.  There  was  no  small  table-talk  on  such 
occasions ;  for  these  feasts  were  more  like  Platonic 
symposia  of  art  and  literature,  in  which  both  Phil 
lips  and  Garrison  were  as  much  at  home  as  they 
were  in  forensic  discussions.  On  one  such  occa 
sion,  when  Lucretia  Mott  was  the  orator  of  the 

260 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

day,  Garrison  illustrated  some  statement  with  a 
quotation  from  one  of  Wordsworth's  poems;  Mrs. 
Stearns  continued  the  quotation,  and  Phillips  fin 
ished  it,  gracefully  remarking  that  Mr.  Garrison 
could  have  repeated  the  whole  poem  if  he  had 
chosen  to  do  so.  On  another  occasion  Emerson 
remarked  after  Phillips  had  left  the  room :  "  This 
man  is  such  a  perfect  artist  that  he  ought  to  be 
walking  in  every  gallery  of  Europe,  and  yet  here 
he  is  fighting  out  these  hard  battles." 

Once  Mr.  Stearns  unintentionally  played  a  prac 
tical  joke  on  Wendell  Phillips.  Having  filled  his 
own  carriage  in  Boston,  he  hired  a  one-horse  affair 
to  bring  out  some  other  guests,  and  in  the  evening 
gave  it  in  charge  to  Mr.  Phillips  and  Theodore 
Tilton  to  return  to  the  city,  but  neglected  to  tell 
them  whence  he  obtained  it.  He  remembered  this 
twenty  minutes  later,  but  concluded  that  Phillips 
would  find  his  way  out  of  the  difficulty,  and  so  he 
did.  After  laughing  and  joking  with  Tilton  about 
their  being  sent  on  a  fool's  errand,  Phillips  exam 
ined  the  whip,  and  found  the  name  of  the  stable 
on  its  handle. 

General  Sherman's  criticism  of  engineer  officers, 
that  they  naturally  took  to  earthworks  and  defen 
sive  operations,  applied  perfectly  to  General 
McClellan,  who  was  an  able  organizer,  but  by  no 
means  eager  to  fight  a  battle.  He  had  been  in 
command  now  for  more  than  nine  months,  without 
accomplishing  anything  toward  the  suppression  of 
the  rebellion.  Yet  he  had  already  become  a  popu 
lar  hero  in  the  imagination  of  the  Democratic 

261 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

party,  as  well  as  in  that  of  many  good  Republicans, 
and  was  even  spoken  of  as  the  American  Napoleon. 
Public  opinion  is  not  far  wrong  in  its  admiration 
for  military  genius  for  rare  qualities  of  mind  and 
character  are  required  to  command  a  large  army 
with  success,  but  there  is  always  danger  of  this 
admiration  being  misdirected.  The  real  merit  of 
a  conqueror  is  to  be  estimated  by  a  critical  examina 
tion  of  the  obstacles  he  has  overcome.  As  Balzac 
says,  the  general  public  judges  only  by  results. 

Mr.  Stearns  was  rarely  mistaken  in  his  opinion 
of  public  men,  and  he  had  already  come  to  the  con 
clusion  that  McClellan  was  neither  a  military  genius 
nor  a  very  judicious  person  in  other  affairs;  but 
he  recognized  the  danger  to  the  Republican  party 
from  the  McClellan  craze.  George  P.  Bradford, 
an  old  Free-soiler  and  friend  of  Emerson,  came 
to  dine  with  Mrs.  Stearns,  and  expressed  a  great 
admiration  for  McClellan.  Mr.  Stearns  told  him 
that  if  he  knew  anything  about  McClellan  he  would 
not  talk  as  he  did;  but  he  thought  to  himself,  if  a 
man  like  Mr.  Bradford  had  such  ideas,  what  can 
we  expect  from  the  average  voter?  Frank  Bird 
informed  him  that  a  strong  movement  was  already 
being  organized  to  defeat  Sumner  and  Andrew. 
Many  disaffected  Republicans  had  joined  it,  and 
it  was  supported  by  a  large  amount  of  capital.  If 
Democratic  candidates  failed  they  intended  to  bring 
forward  Judge  Hoar,  or  Judge  Thomas,  as  a  com 
promise  against  Sumner,  who  was  hated  like  Aris- 
tides  for  his  uncompromising  love  of  justice, — 
something  that  is  very  disagreeable  to  those  who 
look  only  to  self-interest. 

262 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

On  the  second  Sunday  in  June  Mr.  Stearns  drove 
to  South  Boston  and  held  a  long  consultation  with 
Dr.  S.  G.  Howe.  "  There  is  not  a  newspaper  in 
Boston,"  said  the  Chevalier,  "  that  will  publish  one 
of  Sumner's  speeches,  or  say  a  good  word  for 
him."*  "Then,"  said  Mr.  Stearns,  "we  must 
have  a  paper  of  our  own  and  I  will  put  a  thousand 
dollars  into  it  as  a  sinking  fund."  "  I  cannot  do 
that,"  replied  Dr.  Howe,  "  but  I  will  give  three 
hundred."  It  was  arranged  that  the  paper  should 
be  called  the  Commonwealth,  and  that  James  M. 
Stone,  a  rather  high-minded  politician  of  Charles- 
town,  should  be  editor. 

On  leaving  the  house  Mr.  Stearns  noticed  Lord 
Byron's  helmet,  which  had  been  presented  to  Dr. 
Howe  in  Greece — the  finest  reward  he  could  have 
received  for  his  services.  The  doctor  took  it  down 
from  the  place  where  it  hung,  and  showed  it  to 
him.  Mr.  Stearns  did  not  think  he  should  like  to 
wear  it.  "  You  could  not  wear  it,"  said  the  doctor, 
"  for  your  head  is  too  large.  Frank  Sanborn 
tried  to  put  it  on,  but  he  found  it  was  too  small 
for  him.  Byron  had  a  high  forehead,  and  a 
beautifully  shaped  head,  but  its  circumference 
was  narrow."  Byron's  head  was  shaped  like  a 
woman's. 

Rev.  Moncure  D.  Conway  preached  a  sermon  in 
Cincinnati  at  this  time  which  struck  the  right  key- 


*  The  Advertiser  of  that  time  was  under  the  control  of 
Harvard  University,  and  the  Transcript,  which  has  since 
been  so  fearless  in  the  cause  of  human  rights,  was  edited  by 
a  man  who  might  truly  be  called  a  slave  of  the  quill. 

263 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

note  and  attracted  general  attention.  "  Launch 
out  into  the  deep,"  he  said  to  the  administration, 
"  and  no  longer  drift  among  the  shallows."  Soon 
afterward  he  came  to  Boston,  and  Mr.  Stearns 
arranged  with  him  to  assist  Mr.  Stone  in  editing 
the  Commonwealth,  while  preaching  and  lecturing 
in  Boston  and  vicinity.  He  gave  a  finer  literary 
quality  to  the  Commonwealth  than  any  other  jour 
nal  in  Boston  could  brag  of,  but  Mr.  Stearns  soon 
discovered  that  M.  D.  Conway  did  not  properly 
belong  to  his  circle.  He  professed  to  be  an  Emer 
sonian,  but  was  really  a  disciple  of  Tom  Paine; 
that  is,  he  belonged  to  the  eighteenth  century,  in 
stead  of  the  nineteenth;  and  besides  this,  he  was 
continually  running  into  extravagances  of  one 
kind  or  another.  He  would  slight  a  friend 
one  day,  and  the  next  day  ask  a  favor  of  him. 
As  Wasson  said,  he  was  a  man  with  his  feet 
in  a  large  number  of  quicksands;  and  Mr. 
Stearns  was  not  sorry  when  an  opportunity 
occurred  for  sending  M.  D.  Conway  to  Eng 
land  to  represent  the  Union  cause  there  as  a 
native-born  Virginian.  Excepting  on  the  sla 
very  question  two  men  could  not  differ  more 
widely  than  did  M.  D.  Conway  and  George  L. 
Stearns;  and  much  the  same  might  be  said  of 
Conway  and  Emerson. 

It  is  now  universally  admitted  that  McClellan's 
plans  for  his  Yorktown  campaign  were  interfered 
with,  and  that  he  did  not  have  the  fair  chance  that 
he  should.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  General 
Hitchcock,  the  President's  military  adviser,  was 
responsible  for  this.  He  dined  at  Mr.  Stearns' 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

house  in  April,  1862,  and  gave  Mr.  Stearns  the 
impression  that  he  was  more  of  a  philosopher  than 
a  soldier.  Mr.  Stearns  afterward  referred  to  sev 
eral  remarks  of  his,  which  indicated  an  unbusiness 
like  character.  At  the  same  time  it  is  only  fair 
to  question  whether  this  possibility  was  not 
included  in  General  McClellan's  plan.  In  fact, 
there  is  a  statement  in  one  of  McClellan's  letters, 
which  indicates  that  President  Lincoln  had  raised 
this  very  objection  to  it.  McClellan's  Yorktown 
plan  resembled  Napoleon's  first  Prussian  campaign, 
but  with  this  difference.  Napoleon  uncovered  the 
road  to  Paris  to  the  enemy  contrary  to  all  the  rules 
of  war,  but  Paris  was  six  hundred  miles  away. 
McClellan  uncovered  Washington  when  he  was 
less  than  two  hundred  miles  away.  The  same 
course  of  events  took  place  when  Grant  came  upon 
McClellan's  ground,  and  the  National  Capital 
was  only  saved  by  the  heroism  of  General 
Sheridan.  McClellan  possessed  the  valuable 
quality  of  inspiring  his  men  with  confidence  in 
himself,  but  he  was  not  often  to  be  seen  on  a 
battle-field. 

Mr.  Stearns  thought  he  was  too  slow ;  but  it  was 
impossible  at  that  time  to  find  out  the  truth  in 
regard  to  military  movements,  for  the  Democratic 
papers  distorted  events  in  one  way,  and  the  Repub 
lican  papers  in  another.  The  ill  success  of  McClel 
lan's  attempt  on  Richmond  did  not  diminish  his 
popularity.  Instead  of  a  conquering  hero  he  was 
now  looked  upon  as  the  martyr  of  political  in 
trigues.  Pope  had  proved  a  decided  failure, 
and  the  difficulty  was  to  find  a  general  who  could 

265 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

fill  McClellan's  place.    August  7  Mr.  Stearns  wrote 
from  John  Hopper's  office  in  New  York : 

"  I  am  safely  here,  and  have  met  General  Doubleday. 
He  is  rather  too  lymphatic  for  a  general,  but  for  all  that 
may  be  the  best  man  to  be  had.  He  is  yet  in  doubt  as  to 
his  course;  is  afraid  that  the  War  Department  would  not 
give  him  the  command.  I  shall  probably  get  useful  informa 
tion  and  hear  some  history  from  him  about  McClellan  and 
others.  If  so  you  shall  have  it." 

One  would  like  to  know  what  General  Double- 
day  thought  of  McClellan,  but  exactly  those  facts 
of  history  which  would  be  most  interesting  are  the 
ones  which  have  to  be  concealed  from  us.  "  Why," 
cries  Ruskin,  "  this  cruel  reticence  of  great 
minds  ?  "  Neither  Grant,  Sherman,  nor  any  for 
eign  military  authority,  has  given  a  decided  opinion 
in  regard  to  General  McClellan. 

Mr.  Stearns  once  repeated  a  saying  in  regard  to 
McClellan,  which  was  attributed  to  Secretary  Stan- 
ton,  at  a  time  when  the  army  was  supposed  to  have 
been  embarrassed  by  the  bad  condition  of  the  roads, 
— that  there  was  "  more  mud  within  than  without." 

During  the  spring  and  summer  of  1862,  Mr. 
Stearns  was  in  continual  consultation  with  Gov 
ernor  Andrew  concerning  the  organization  of 
regiments,  temporary  loans  required  for  the  pur 
pose,  and  various  other  matters.  The  First  Regi 
ment  of  Massachusetts  Volunteers  was  sent  into 
camp  close  by  Mr.  Stearns'  house,  and  became  a 
regular  afternoon  entertainment  for  Medford 
society.  One  day  the  governor  said  to  him :  "  Where 
can  we  get  red  gravel  for  the  walks  on  Boston 
Common  ? "  "  In  my  cow-pasture,"  said  Mr. 

266 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Stearns.  The  governor  laughed  and  sent  for  it,  and 
the  big  hole  his  men  dug  is  still  to  be  seen.  Andrew 
was  very  fond  of  apples,  so  that  he  even  kept  them 
on  his  desk  at  the  state-house.  Mr.  Stearns  noticed 
this,  and  kept  him  well  supplied.  "  You  seem  to 
have  everything  on  that  hill  of  yours,"  said  the 
governor. 

Mr.  Stearns  wanted  to  make  a  dinner-party  for 
Sumner,  but  the  Senator  preferred  a  quiet  after 
noon  under  his  grape-vines.  On  this  occasion  he 
told  a  curious  story  of  Secretary  Seward,  substan 
tially  as  follows:  Mrs.  Putnam,  a  lady-like  col 
ored  woman  of  Boston,  had  named  her  son  for 
Edmund  Quincy,  who  generously  offered  to  edu 
cate  the  boy.  This  could  only  be  done  in  Paris, 
however,  and  as  passports  were  necessary  at  that 
time  to  leave  the  United  States,  Mrs.  Putnam  wrote 
to  Sumner  for  one,  and  Sumner  considered  it 
advisable  to  carry  the  application  to  the  State 
Department  himself.  He  showed  the  application 
to  Seward,  who  said  rather  nervously :  "  Why  do 
they  describe  his  hair  as  woolly?  " 

"  Probably/'  replied  Sumner,  "  because  it  is. 
His  grandfather  was  a  slave/' 

"  Well,  this  is  rather  awkward,"  replied  Seward; 
"  this  is  the  first  application  we  have  had  for  a 
passport  for  a  negro." 

"  I  do  not  see  that  that  makes  any  difference, 
Mr.  Secretary,"  said  Sumner.  "  Mr.  Putnam  has 
a  right  to  it  as  much  as  you  or  I." 

Mr.  Seward  moved  about  uneasily.  "  Well,  you 
ought  to  know  how  it  is,"  he  said.  "  The  New 
York  elections  are  approaching,  and  if  the  news- 

267 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

papers  find  out  about  this,  there  is  no  telling  what 
use  they  will  make  of  it.  Now  if  you  could  write 
me  a  request  in  your  own  name  for  this  colored 
person,  it  would  simplify  the  case  for  me  very 
much." 

Mr.  Sumner  had  no  objection  to  doing  that,  but 
he  could  not  see  the  occasion  for  it.  However, 
he  finally  wrote  a  brief  note  of  request  and  handed 
it  to  the  secretary  of  state.  Mr.  Seward  rang  for 
a  messenger,  to  whom  he  delivered  Putnam's  appli 
cation,  saying:  "  Take  this  to  the  passport  clerk, 
and  request  him  to  make  out  a  passport  for  Mr. 
Sumner's  friend." 

Mr.  Stearns  thought  this  was  the  smallest  busi 
ness  he  had  ever  heard  of.* 

The  first  number  of  the  Commonwealth  appeared 
early  in  September,  1862,  boldly  advocating  the 
emancipation  of  the  slaves  as  a  war  measure,  the 
removal  of  General  McClellan  as  an  incompetent 
commander,  and  the  reelection  of  Andrew  and 
Sumner.  Strange  to  relate,  these  three  objects 
were  accomplished  within  the  next  four  months; 
although  it  is  not  to  be  presumed  that  the  Com 
monwealth  exercised  much  influence  on  the  two 
former. 

Thousands  of  copies  were  printed,  and  those 
which  could  not  be  sold  were  distributed  to  mem 
bers  of  the  legislature,  country  judges,  and  the 
like.  If  the  truth  is  to  be  told,  Senator  Sumner 


*  Edmund  Q.  Putnam  afterward  married  an  English  lady 
of  independent  fortune,  and  was  well  received  in  European 
society. 

268 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

franked  a  thousand  copies  of  the  first  number, 
though  he  did  this  without  any  definite  knowledge 
of  its  contents.  Mr.  Stearns  said :  "  It  is  an  abuse 
of  the  privilege,  but  the  whole  franking  system  is 
an  abuse.  Where  Sumner  franks  a  thousand 
copies  of  a  speech,  Stephen  A.  Douglas  would 
frank  five  thousand." 

Immediately  after  this  the  summons  for  a 
people's  convention  appeared  in  the  leading  Boston 
papers,  signed  by  a  host  of  respectable  and  many 
worthy  names,  at  the  head  of  which  appeared  that 
of  Professor  Joel  Parker  of  the  Harvard  Law 
School;  and,  to  judge  from  the  preamble,  the 
United  States  of  America  had  never  been  in  such 
great  danger  as  it  was  now  from  the  prospect  of 
negro  emancipation. 

At  the  meeting  that  was  held  by  these  gentlemen 
in  Faneuil  Hall  the  speeches  were  so  dolorous  that 
one  would  suppose  the  day  of  judgment  was  close 
at  hand.  Lack  of  confidence  in  the  administration, 
state  and  national,  was  the  keynote  of  the  addresses. 

In  the  midst  of  such  political  festivities  came 
President  Lincoln's  preparatory  proclamation, 
threatening  the  Southern  states  with  emancipation, 
unless  they  returned  to  their  allegiance.  This  was 
like  a  thunderbolt  clearing  the  sky.  All  parties 
seemed  to  feel  better  for  it;  but  it  gave  the 
Republican  party  a  firmer  basis  and  a  more 
definite  purpose;  it  gave  a  rallying-cry  to  the 
Union  soldiers,  and  steeled  their  nerves  to  better 
fighting.  It  cleared  away  the  mists  and  dubious 
spectres  with  which  the  nation  had  so  long  been 
afflicted. 

269 


XVII 

EMANCIPATION 

MR.  STEARNS  said  that  General  McClellan  was 
his  own  worst  enemy.  If  he  had  pursued  the  same 
course  that  General  Grant  did,  he  might  have  come 
out  of  the  war  with  flying  colors,  and  perhaps  have 
succeeded  to  the  presidential  chair.  One  cause  of 
General  Grant's  success  was  his  unfailing  mod 
esty.  He  believed  in  the  good  old  proverb,  "  Every 
man  to  his  trade."  He  never  interfered  in  affairs 
which  did  not  appertain  to  his  profession,  but 
devoted  himself  to  his  special  business  of  fighting 
the  enemy  without  lending  his  ear  to  the  plans  or 
suggestions  of  designing  politicians.  Whatever 
the  government  ordered  him  to  do,  that  he  per 
formed  to  the  best  of  his  ability — a  true  servant 
of  the  state.  After  the  battle  of  Shiloh  he  was 
virtually  superseded,  and  we  know  how  badly  he 
felt  at  this,  but  he  showed  no  sign  of  irritation  or 
resentment.  He  went  straight  onward  working 
and  fighting,  and  in  course  of  time  he  had  his 
reward.  McClellan  protested  publicly  against  the 
antislavery  policy  of  the  government,  and  had  to 
be  removed.  There  was  no  other  course  now  open 
to  the  administration. 

Mrs.  Lincoln  happened  to  be  in  Boston  at  the 
time  of  McClellan's  removal,  and  shortly  after  the 
news  arrived  Sumner  called  upon  her  at  the 
Parker  House,  and  her  first  words  to  him  were : 

270 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

"  I  suppose  you  have  heard  the  news.  McClellan 
is  dismissed,  and  I  am  thankful  for  it.  Mr.  Lin 
coln  told  me  that  he  was  going  to  do  it  before  I  left 
Washington.  I  know  you  are  glad  of  it,  and  so 
am  I." 

Mr.  Sumner  repeated  this  to  Mr.  Stearns  and 
Dr.  Howe  verbatim  shortly  afterwards;  and  it  is 
one  of  the  few  authentic  facts  which  we  possess 
concerning  Mrs.  Lincoln's  politics.  It  was  per 
haps  fortunate  for  Lincoln  that  he  did  not  have  a 
wife  who  troubled  herself  much  about  public  affairs, 
and  who  was  consequently  beyond  the  reach  of 
cabinet  and  congressional  intrigues.  He  could 
forget  the  cares  of  state  in  the  privacy  of  domestic 
life.  A  wife  like  L.  Maria  Child  or  Julia  Ward 
Howe  would  not  have  suited  him  at  all. 

It  was  considered  a  decided  advantage  that  Sen 
ator  Sumner's  friends  obtained  an  invitation  for 
him  to  address  the  State  Republican  convention. 
Mr.  Stearns  and  Mr.  Bird  met  Judge  Conway 
and  Mrs.  Howe  at  the  Worcester  depot.  Wendell 
Phillips  joined  them  at  noon.  Mrs.  Howe  was  in 
great  spirits,  called  the  occasion  a  political  spree, 
and  drew  an  excellent  likeness  of  Frank  Bird  in  a 
note-book.  The  electric  flashes  of  her  wit  played 
about  the  heads  of  all  the  company.  Mr.  Stearns 
and  Mr.  Bird  found  enough  to  do  at  the  convention. 
Andrew  was  renominated  by  acclamation ;  but  time 
was  required  to  prepare  the  resolutions.  At  three 
P.M.  Sumner  appeared  on  the  platform. 

There  was  an  air  of  triumph  in  his  manner.  His 
address  had  the  character  of  a  letter  of  advice  to 
the  administration.  He  sketched  in  broad  outlines 

271 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

the  opportunities  and  duties  of  the  President  and 
the  several  members  of  his  cabinet.  He  said: 
"  We  have  forty-six  major-generals,  and  more  than 
two  hundred  brigadier-generals,  but  the  best  gen 
eral  of  them  all  is  general  emancipation."  He 
timed  his  speech  so  exactly  that  when  he  closed 
there  was  only  fifteen  minutes  in  which  to  catch  the 
afternoon  train  for  Boston.  We  all  hurried  to  the 
street;  and  lo!  there  was  Sumner  standing  by  the 
carriage-door  to  assist  Mrs.  Howe. 

The  train,  however,  was  somewhat  late,  and 
while  they  were  standing  on  the  platform  Wendell 
Phillips  asked  Judge  Conway,  if  he  thought  there 
was  any  chance  that  the  slaveholders  would  accept 
President  Lincoln's  offer,  but  Conway  replied : 
"  No ;  they  will  never  do  it.  They  are  the  proud 
est  people  in  the  world;  and  besides  that  they 
drink  too  much  whiskey."  Then,  turning  to  Mr. 
Stearns,  he  said :  "  You  can  have  no  idea  of 
the  extent  to  which  the  common  slaveholder  de 
pends  upon  whiskey.  Why,  sir,  I  do  believe, 
that  if  it  were  not  for  whiskey,  this  rebellion 
would  never  have  taken  place."  Mr.  Stearns  re 
marked  that  Judge  Curtis  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  had  admitted  to  him  that  the  rea 
son  he  resigned  his  position  was  because  he  was 
so  often  called  upon  to  drink  ardent  spirits  in 
Washington  that  it  became  simply  intolerable. 
Mrs.  Howe  observed  that  neither  Judge  Con- 
way  nor  Judge  Curtis  belonged  to  the  cold-water 
delegation. 

A  few  days  later  Mr.  Stearns  reported  that 
Jefferson  Davis'  Cabinet  was  in  favor  of  accepting 

272 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

President   Lincoln's   offer,    but   that   Lee's    army 
would  not  listen  to  it. 

The  compromise  party  also  met  in  convention  at 
Worcester  and  nominated  General  Devens  for  gov 
ernor.  He  was  called  a  conservative  Republican, 
but  did  not  appear  to  have  any  very  definite  politics. 
His  nomination,  however,  pointed  directly  to  the 
unseen  hand  that  was  guiding  this  movement. 
General  Devens  was  afterwards  made  attorney- 
general  by  President  Hayes  through  the  mediation 
of  William  M.  Evarts. 

Mr.  Stearns  considered  the  nomination  a  weak 
one.  He  had  no  fear  of  Andrew's  election,  but 
thought  there  was  more  danger  of  timid  Repub 
licans  deserting  Sumner  at  the  last  moment.  The 
eyes  of  the  whole  country  were  now  turned  on 
Massachusetts,  for  Sumner  was  the  recognized 
leader  of  the  emancipation  policy  at  Washington, 
and  his  defeat  would  simply  mean  that  the  people 
of  the  North  did  not  intend  to  support  the  govern 
ment  in  its  new  departure. 

The  November  election,  however,  resulted  in 
fifty  thousand  votes  for  General  Devens  and  eighty 
thousand  for  John  A.  Andrew.  The  state  legis 
lature  was  so  strongly  Republican  that  it  left  Sum- 
ner's  reelection  beyond  the  possibility  of  doubt. 
As  soon  as  he  was  satisfied  of  this,  Sumner  walked 
down  to  Mr.  Stearns'  office  and  said :  "  If  there 
is  any  one,  Stearns,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for 
this  result  more  than  another,  it  is  yourself."  Such 
was  the  end  of  the  People's  party,  so  called ; 
and  Harvard  University  was  more  gloomy  than 
ever. 

18  273 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

i-uoking  back  on  the  past,  one  cannot  help  won 
dering  why  a  majority  of  the  respectable  and  well 
educated  people  of  Boston  should  have  desired  to 
perpetuate  slavery,  and  should  have  opposed  the 
one  stainless  character  that  has  been  known  in 
American  politics.  In  1851  Sumner  said  to  Caleb 
Gushing:  "  I  will  not  leave  this  chair  where  I  sit 
to  secure  my  election  to  the  United  States  Senate." 

A  Boston  firm  for  whom  Mr.  Stearns  had  ob 
tained  a  lucrative  government  contract,  from  which 
they  probably  had  derived  a  larger  profit  than  they 
deserved,  sent  him  a  cheque  for  two  thousand  dol 
lars,  which  he  returned  with  a  note  saying  as 
politely  as  possible  that  to  partake  in  such  transac 
tions  was  as  culpable  as  theft. 

During  the  autumn,  Emerson,  Wendell  Phillips, 
and  Moncure  Conway  dined  together  repeatedly 
at  Mr.  Stearns'  house  to  discuss  public  affairs. 
This  was  supposed  to  be  chiefly  for  the  benefit  of 
Phillips,  who  showed  a  dangerous  leaning  toward 
General  Butler's  influence.  The  conversation  on 
these  occasions  was  very  brilliant.  When  Emer 
son  was  animated  the  keenness  of  his  criticism 
levelled  all  before  it,  and  Conway's  rich  wit  was 
more  refreshing  than  the  champagne.  It  was 
noticed  that  Phillips,  who  never  took  wine,  was 
particularly  fond  of  a  kind  of  dessert  which  was 
served  with  wine  sauce.  "  Do  not  take  too  much 
stock  in  General  Butler,  Mr.  Phillips,"  Conway 
said  to  him  once,  noticing  the  emphasis  in  which 
the  latter  had  used  Butler's  name.  Mr.  Stearns 
was  always  the  Jarno  of  the  entertainment,  the 

274 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

severe  enunciator  of  practical  methods.  He  was  of 
good  service  to  Phillips  at  this  time,  for  he  could 
often  give  him  information  that  was  not  to  be 
obtained  from  other  sources. 

At  length  the  first  of  January  arrived,  and  the 
celebration  in  the  Music  Hall,  during  which  Emer 
son  recited  his  "  Boston  Hymn,"  has  become  his 
torical.  When  he  repeated  the  verse — 

"  Pay  ransom  to  the  owner 

And  fill  the  bag  to  the  brim. 
Who  is  the  owner?     The  slave  is  owner, 
And  ever  was.    Pay  him." 

he  spoke  the  last  two  words  with  such  energy  and 
emphasis  that  the  audience  felt  something  like  an 
electric  shock.  Then  a  gentleman  came  forward 
and  announced  that  the  proclamation  had  been 
issued.  Three  cheers  were  given  for  William 
Lloyd  Garrison;  but  nothing  was  said  of  Benja 
min  Lundy,  who  was  the  first  of  all  the  abolition 
ists  and  one  of  the  most  influential. 

That  same  evening  there  was  a  great  celebra 
tion  at  Mr.  Stearns'  house  in  Medford.  All  the 
prominent  abolitionists  and  Free-soilers  were  in 
vited,  and  those,  like  Dr.  Howe,  who  were  unable 
to  attend,  sent  their  wives  and  daughters.  The 
house  was  thronged  with  brilliant  men  and  charm 
ing  women.  Brackett's  bust  of  John  Brown  was 
placed  on  the  landing  of  the  staircase,  and  Wen 
dell  Phillips  unveiled  it  with  a  speech  so  graceful, 
exquisite,  and  timely,  that  it  seemed  more  like  a 
beautiful  poem  than  a  prose  address.  Emerson 
repeated  his  "  Boston  Hymn,"  and  Mrs.  Howe 

275 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

recited  her  "  Battle  Hymn  "  in  a  weird,  penetrating 
voice,  which  affected  the  whole  company. 

Emerson  and  Alcott  remained  over  night,  and 
talked  philosophy  with  Mrs.  Stearns  until  a  late 
hour.  J.  B.  Smith,  a  colored  caterer,  who  made  a 
fortune  in  providing  class  day  entertainments  at 
Harvard,  would  never  send  Mr.  Stearns  any  ac 
count  for  this  occasion;  and  was  with  difficulty 
persuaded  to  accept  a  cheque  for  a  hundred  dollars. 

About  the  middle  of  January,  Garrison  sur 
prised  his  former  friends  and  supporters  by  pub 
lishing  an  editorial  in  the  Liberator  congratulating 
the  abolitionists  on  the  success  of  their  long  effort, 
but  also  presuming  that  their  work  was  nearly  at 
an  end,  and  that  the  future  of  the  freedmen  could 
be  safely  intrusted  to  President  Lincoln  and  his 
Cabinet.  The  Boston  Advertiser  praised  this  con 
fession  of  the  veteran  philanthropist,  but  Mr. 
Stearns,  Frank  Bird,  and  Dr.  Howe  did  not  like 
it  at  all.  Mr.  Bird  attributed  it  to  Senator  Wil 
son's  influence,  and  his  growing  jealousy  of  Gen 
eral  Butler;  and  Mr.  Stearns  said  that  Garrison 
evidently  seemed  to  think  that  the  negroes  were 
already  liberated,  although  the  greater  part  of 
them  still  remained  in  slavery,  and  would  continue 
so  unless  the  rebellion  could  be  suppressed;  and 
this  was  not  yet  certain. 

Strangely  enough,  soon  after  this  Wendell  Phil 
lips  came  to  Mrs.  Stearns  to  beg  a  subscription  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Liberator.  "  Why,"  said  she, 
with  her  native  wit,  "  if  the  slavery  conflict  is  at 
an  end,  what  need  is  there  for  publishing  the 
Liberator?  "  "  Well,"  said  Phillips,  "  you  know 

276 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

it  is  Garrison's  occupation ;  and  at  his  age  there  is 
nothing  else  that  he  could  do."  Mr.  Stearns 
thought  it  rather  hard  that  he  should  be  assessed 
for  the  benefit  of  the  opposition ;  but  Phillips  him 
self  was  in  the  same  position,  and  they  both  paid 
the  money.  Garrison's  motive  for  this  change 
of  base  might  perhaps  have  been  traced  back  to 
the  commencement  of  the  Kansas  struggle. 

Garrison  had  his  triumph  on  the  first  of  Jan 
uary  ;  and  Phillips  had  his  the  last  of  January, 
when  he  was  invited  to  Washington  to  deliver  an 
oration  on  the  duty  of  the  hour,  which  he  gave 
with  such  satisfaction  to  his  audience  that  he  was 
requested  to  give  his  lecture  on  "  Toussaint 
I'Ouverture,"  and  after  that  on  "  The  Lost 
Arts  "  on  succeeding  evenings.* 

Mr.  Stearns  and  Frank  Bird  took  advantage  of 
this  feeling  to  bring  a  little  radical  influence  to 
bear  on  President  Lincoln.  They  went  to  Wash 
ington  and,  joining  forces  with  Wendell  Phillips 
and  Hon.  Oakes  Ames,  invited  Sumner  to  go  with 
them  to  the  White  House  and  press  the  appoint 
ment  of  General  Fremont  as  military  governor  of 
North  Carolina;  but  Senator  Sumner  made  it  a 
point  never  to  interfere  in  military  affairs,  and 
thought  they  would  do  better  without  him.  Ac 
cordingly  they  went  with  Mr.  Ames  as  an  intro- 
ductor. 

At  this  time  all  the  Union  generals  with  the 
exception  of  Hooker  and  Saxton  were  either  pro- 
slavery  like  Rosecrans,  or  still  on  the  fence  like 

*  If  I  remember  correctly. 
277 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

Thomas  and  Sherman.  General  Stanley,  who  com 
manded  in  North  Carolina,  was  a  noted  admirer 
of  McClellan,  and  opposed  like  him  to  the  new  pol 
icy  of  the  government.  Why  was  he  retained? 
If  he  could  be  replaced  by  General  Fremont,  or 
some  other  friend  of  the  cause,  colored  regiments 
might  be  organized  there,  that  would  cooperate 
with  the  Union  people  in  the  mountains,  and  a 
diversion  be  created  in  the  rear  of  General  Lee's 
army,  which  might  prove  dangerous  to  his  com 
munications.  The  liberation  of  the  slaves  in  North 
Carolina  alone  might  seriously  embarrass  the  rebels 
in  Virginia. 

The  objection  to  Fremont  was  always  that  he 
was  surrounded  by  a  gang  of  California  specula 
tors  ;  but  these  would  not  be  likely  to  follow  him  to 
North  Carolina,  for  there  was  no  material  there 
for  them  to  work  upon.  Military  judges  informed 
Mr.  Stearns  and  his  friends  that  the  plan  was  prac 
ticable. 

President  Lincoln  complimented  Wendell  Phil 
lips  on  his  fine  oratory,  and  Mr.  Phillips  gracefully 
returned  the  compliment.  He  then  explained  the 
object  of  the  conference;  but  Mr.  Lincoln  made 
objection  at  once  to  the  appointment  of  Fremont, 
who  he  said  was  "  too  much  bespattered  with  the 
mud  of  reform."  Then  Mr.  Bird  took  up  the 
argument,  and  proposed  the  removal  of  the  mili 
tary  governor  of  North  Carolina  on  political 
grounds.  Mr.  Lincoln  said :  "  General  Stanley 
called  on  me  after  I  had  written  my  proclamation 
of  emancipation,  and  I  showed  it  to  him.  He  said 
he  thought  he  could  stand  that."  "  Mr.  President/' 

278 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

said  Moncure  Conway,  "  we  don't  want  a  man  who 
can  stand  it;  but  one  who  rejoices  at  it,  who  will 
enforce  it,  and  make  it  a  vital  reality."  Then 
President  Lincoln  remarked :  "  Suppose  I  should 
put  in  the  South  these  antislavery  generals  and 
governors,  what  could  they  do  with  the  slaves  that 
would  come  to  them  ?  "  *  And  Mr.  Stearns  replied : 
"  We  would  make  Union  soldiers  of  all  who  were 
capable  of  bearing  arms ;  "  and  so  he  did  not  long 
afterwards.  Lincoln,  however,  was  inexorable, 
and  after  some  further  discussion  the  company 
took  their  leave. 

Late  in  the  evening  Mr.  Stearns  went  alone  to 
see  Senator  Sumner,  who  was  not  surprised  at 
the  result  of  their  mission.  "  Why  a  man,"  he  said, 
"  like  General  Stanley,  who  is  opposed  to  the  policy 
of  the  government,  and  would  vote  against  Lin 
coln  if  he  had  the  opportunity,  should  be  retained 
at  Newberne,  is  more  than  I  can  understand.  By 
the  way,  Mr.  Stearns,  I  hear  you  propose  to  give  a 
dinner-party.  Now,  let  me  advise  you.  Dr.  John 
son  was  once  invited  to  a  dinner,  and  afterward, 
when  asked  how  he  liked  it,  said :  '  A  good  enough 
dinner,  but  not  a  dinner  to  invite  a  man  to.'  ' 

Mr.  Stearns  never  could  understand  this  cut 
ting  remark.  The  strange  part  of  it  was  that  he 
was  accustomed  to  giving  dinner-parties,  whereas 
Sumner  was  not.  When  Mr.  Bird  was  absent  from 
their  club,  Mr.  Stearns  usually  presided  in  his 
place,  and  could  probably  have  given  Sumner  points 
on  the  etiquette  of  the  table. 

*  Conway's  Memoirs,  i,  p.  381. 
279 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

The  dinner  took  place,  notwithstanding.  Mr. 
Stearns  invited  all  the  Republican  senators,  except 
Sumner,  and  the  more  prominent  members  of  Con 
gress,  together  with  Phillips,  Bird,  and  Moncure 
Conway,  who  reported  it  at  Concord  a  few  days 
later  as  a  great  success.  Three  years  afterward 
John  W.  Forney  said  to  Mr.  Stearns,  who  com 
plimented  him  on  a  similar  occasion :  "  It  does 
not  equal  your  little  dinner,  major." 

On  their  return  to  Boston  Mr.  Stearns  said  of 
Lincoln :  "  It  is  of  no  use  to  disparage  his  ability. 
There  we  were,  with  some  able  talkers  among  us, 
and  we  had  the  best  position  too ;  but  the  President 
held  his  ground  against  us;  "  and  Frank  Bird 
said :  "  I  think  he  is  the  shrewdest  man  I  ever 
met;  but  not  at  all  of  a  Kentuckian.  He  is  an 
old-fashioned  Yankee  in  a  Western  dress." 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  almost  the  type  of  the  tra 
ditional  Yankee ;  cool  headed,  shrewd,  circumspect, 
full  of  native  wit,  and  almost  indifferent  to  for 
tune,  either  good  or  evil. 

Emerson  had  also  been  to  Washington  to  lec 
ture,  and  had  his  experience  to  narrate.  He  called 
on  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  found  him  very  congenial. 
An  American  captain  had  been  captured  in  the 
slave-trade,  condemned  for  piracy,  and  an  effort 
was  being  made  to  have  him  pardoned  as  the  last 
of  his  tribe.  What  did  Mr.  Emerson  think  about 
it?  Emerson  replied  that  considering  the  condi 
tion  of  the  country  he  felt  that  this  was  not  a  case 
in  which  the  supreme  penalty  of  the  law  should 
be  set  aside.  Shortly  afterward  I  believe  the 
captain  was  hanged. 

280 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Emerson  compared  President  Lincoln  to  Hon. 
Samuel  Hoar,  the  father  of  Senator  Hoar,  and 
this  indicates  that  he  recognized  the  New  England 
element  in  the  man. 

Now  for  the  first  time  Mr.  Stearns  began  to 
write  on  finance,  and  this  he  continued  to  do  inter 
mittently  for  the  next  three  years,  publishing  letters 
on  the  subject  in  the  Commonwealth  and  Boston 
Advertiser.  He  never  read  a  work  on  political 
economy,  and  thus  escaped  the  insidious  theories 
of  that  still  uncertain  science;  but  he  understood 
the  chain  of  cause  and  effect  as  well  as  any  econo 
mist  of  his  time.  Gold  had  now  risen  to  a  hundred 
and  seventy  or  more,  and  the  business  situation 
was  growing  serious.  The  government  was  ex 
pending  a  million  of  dollars  a  day,  and  the  efforts 
to  raise  this  amount  disturbed  the  values  of  all 
commodities,  tempted  the  wildest  speculation,  and 
was  rolling  up  an  enormous  debt. 

Mr.  Stearns  was  satisfied  that  the  government 
was  pursuing  very  expensive  methods  for  obtaining 
money,  and  while  he  was  in  Washington  he  had 
an  interview  with  Secretary  Chase  on  the  subject, 
and  urged  the  importance  of  a  foreign  loan,  but 
without  meeting  with  much  success.  He  thought 
that  Chase  looked  at  the  question  too  much  from  a 
political  standpoint.  On  his  return  to  Boston  he 
wrote  a  long  article  for  the  Commonwealth,  in 
which  he  said : 

"  Legal  tender  notes  have  these  advantages  over 
loans.  They  save  to  the  Government  a  large  an 
nual  interest,  which,  payable  in  specie  at  the  present 
rates,  amounts  to  ten  per  cent,  per  annum.  They 

281 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

are  well  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  people,  and  in 
time  will  become  the  exclusive  currency  of  the 
nation ;  because  they  are  everywhere  as  good  as  the 
coin  they  represent, — a  convertibility  that  cannot 
attach  to  the  circulation  of  any  local  institution. 
They  strengthen  the  ties  that  bind  us  to  the  Govern 
ment,  for  the  whole  nation  will  be  interested  in 
their  ultimate  redemption." 

Then,  after  explaining  the  disadvantages  of  this 
form  of  loan,  and  emphasizing  the  fact  that  the 
country  could  only  absorb  a  certain  amount  of  it, 
he  continued: 

"  I  would,  therefore,  propose  that  the  Govern 
ment  send  a  competent  agent  to  Europe  to  negotiate 
a  monthly  loan  of  $30,000,000,  payable  in  twelve 
months  and  secured  by  a  sufficient  deposit  of 
United  States  bonds  with  state  endorsement  if 
necessary.  (I  think  for  this  purpose  Massachu 
setts  would  endorse  for  $5,000,000,  and  afterwards 
$15,000,000  could  be  obtained  from  the  other  New 
England  States.)  The  endorsement  of  the  states 
would  give  European  capitalists  confidence  in  our 
ability  and  determination  to  pay  at  maturity  of  the 
loan.  With  the  authority  to  draw  bills  on  London 
for  $30,000,000  per  month,  you  can  control  the 
foreign  exchange  market,  and  through  it  the  price 
of  gold.  Exchange  on  London  could  be  forced 
down  to  20  or  25  per  cent.,  and  the  outflow  of 
gold  thus  stopped  would  soon  bring  coin  to  a  cor 
responding  price." 

If  the  young  French  Republic  immediately  after 
282 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

the  German  conquest  could  borrow  five  hundred 
millions  of  dollars  from  European  bankers,  it 
stands  to  reason  that  the  United  States  of  America 
could  have  done  the  same  in  1863;  for  two  years 
of  warfare  had  already  proved  that  even  if  the 
Northern  states  did  not  succeed  in  conquering  the 
Southern  rebels,  there  was  at  least  no  danger  of 
their  being  conquered  by  them.  Louis  Napoleon 
was  astonished  to  find  that  the  mercantile  Yankees 
were  a  nation  of  soldiers. 

Mr.  Stearns  sent  a  more  detailed  statement  of 
his  plan  to  John  J.  Cisco,  United  States  subtreas- 
urer  in  New  York,  who  wrote  thus  in  reply  to  him : 

"UNITED  STATES  TREASURY, 

"  NEW  YORK,  Feb.  9,  1863. 
"  DEAR  SIR  : 

"  I  have  to  acknowledge  receipt  of  your  favor  of  the  5th 
inst.  and  with  it  a  copy  of  a  very  able  letter  on  financial 
matters  which  you  have  done  me  the  honor  to  address  to 
me. 

"  The  views  advanced  by  you  are  very  suggestive  and 
certainly  worthy  of  serious  consideration.  I  have  com 
municated  the  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  invit 
ing  his  special  attention  to  it.  Herewith  you  will  find  an 
extract  from  the  money  column  of  the  Herald  of  this  date 
referring  to  it. 

"  Very   respectfully  yours, 

"JOHN  J.  Cisco." 

This  was  the  statement  in  the  New  York  Herald: 

"  A  prominent  Boston  merchant  has  transmitted  to  Mr. 
Cisco  a  financial  scheme  which  deserves  more  attention 
than  most  of  the  plans  emanating  from  amateur  financiers. 
The  writer  shows  clearly  that  the  only  reliable  source  of  the 
government  at  present  is  the  continued  issue  of  paper  money. 

283 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Starting  from  this  standpoint,  he  argues  that  the  chief  evil 
to  be  apprehended  from  the  use  of  paper  money  is  the 
export  of  specie  to  foreign  countries.  This  danger  can  be 
obviated,  in  his  opinion,  by  the  negotiation  in  London,  at 
regular  intervals,  of  a  sufficient  amount  of  United  States 
bonds  to  keep  the  balance  of  trade  in  our  favor.  At  the 
present  rate  of  exchange  we  could  afford  to  sell  bonds  in 
London  so  low  as  to  tempt  investors  and  speculators;  and 
even  if,  in  order  to  secure  a  sale,  we  were  compelled  to 
accept  prices  lower  than  the  market  value  here,  the  loss 
would  be  unimportant  in  view  of  the  advantage  of  keeping 
our  specie  at  home.  A  sale  of  $30,000,000  of  bonds  in  the 
course  of  a  year  would  probably  keep  the  balance  of  trade 
in  our  favor.  The  scheme  has  been  transmitted  by  Mr. 
Cisco  to  Mr.  Chase,  and  will  probably  receive  careful  con 
sideration." 

By  this  plan  not  only  the  premium  on  gold,  but 
the  high  rate  of  interest  prevailing  at  that  time, 
might  have  been  greatly  reduced ;  but  the  value  of 
an  inflated  currency  depends  on  credit. 


XVIII 
THE  COLORED  REGIMENTS 

ALEXANDER  HAMILTON  urged  the  employment 
of  negro  troops  during  the  War  of  Independence, 
suggesting  that  their  freedom  might  be  offered 
them  in  return  for  patriotic  service ;  but  his  advice 
was  not  received  favorably.  The  colored  men, 
however,  took  part  in  a  number  of  engagements 
and  distinguished  themselves,  especially  in  the  fight 
at  Redbank,  New  Jersey. 

The  first  colored  regiment  in  the  Civil  War  was 
organized  by  General  Hunter  at  Beaufort,  South 
Carolina,  in  May,  1862,  without  permission  from 
the  government;  and  some  said,  perhaps  unjustly, 
that  Hunter  was  removed  from  his  command  on 
that  account.  It  was  reorganized  by  General  Sax- 
ton  the  following  August,  and  accepted  by  the  Sec 
retary  of  War.  A  short  time  afterward  the  Rev. 
T.  W.  Higginson,  who  had  led  the  attack  on  Bos 
ton  court-house  in  the  attempt  to  rescue  Anthony 
Burns,  was  commissioned  as  its  colonel. 

In  September,  George  L.  Stearns,  being  aware 
that  Senator  Sumner  was  preparing  a  speech  to  be 
delivered  at  the  Republican  state  convention,  went 
to  him  at  his  house  on  Hancock  Street  and  urged 
that  he  should  advocate  the  general  enlistment  of 
colored  troops  in  it;  but  Sumner  said  decisively: 
"  No ;  I  do  not  consider  it  advisable  to  agitate  that 
question  until  the  proclamation  of  emancipation  has 

285 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

become  a  fact.  Then  we  will  take  another  step  in 
advance."  At  a  town  meeting  in  Medford,  held 
in  December,  Mr.  Stearns  made  a  speech  on  the 
same  subject,  and  was  hissed  for  his  pains  by  the 
same  men  who  were  afterwards  saved  from  the 
conscription  of  1863  by  the  negroes  whom  he 
recruited. 

Lewis  Hayden,  the  colored  janitor  at  the  state- 
house,  always  claimed  the  credit  of  having  sug 
gested  to  Governor  Andrew  to  organize  a  colored 
regiment  of  Massachusetts  volunteers.  As  soon  as 
the  proclamation  of  emancipation  had  been  issued 
the  governor  went  to  Washington  for  a  personal 
interview  with  the  secretary  of  war,  and  returned 
with  the  desired  permission.  Mr.  Stearns  went 
with  him  and  obtained  a  commission  for  James 
Montgomery,  who  had  defended  the  Kansas  border 
during  Buchanan's  administration,  to  be  colonel  of 
another  colored  regiment  in  South  Carolina. 
Colonel  Montgomery  arrived  at  Beaufort  about  the 
first  of  February. 

Governor  Andrew  formed  the  skeleton  of  a 
regiment  with  Robert  G.  Shaw  as  colonel,  but  was 
able  to  obtain  few  recruits.  There  were  plenty  of 
sturdy  negroes  about  Boston,  but  they  were  earn 
ing  higher  wages  than  ever  before,  and  were  equally 
afraid  of  what  might  happen  to  them  if  they  were 
captured  by  the  Confederate  forces.  Colonel  Hal- 
lowell  says :  l  The  Governor  counselled  with  cer 
tain  leading  colored  men  of  Boston.  He  put  the 
question, '  Will  your  people  enlist  in  my  regiment  ?  ' 
*  They  will  not/  was  the  reply  of  all  but  Hayden. 
'  We  have  no  objection  to  white  officers,  but  our 

286 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

self-respect  demands  that  competent  colored  men 
shall  be  at  least  eligible  to  promotion.' '  By  the 
last  of  February  less  than  two  companies  had  been 
recruited,  and  the  prospects  of  the  Massachusetts 
Fifty-fourth  did  not  look  hopeful. 

When  Governor  Andrew  was  in  doubt  he  usually 
sent  for  Frank  W.  Bird  or  George  L.  Stearns; 
but  this  time  Mr.  Stearns  was  before  him.  To  the 
governor's  question,  "  What  is  to  be  done?"  he 
replied :  "  If  you  will  obtain  funds  from  the  Legis 
lature  for  their  transportation,  I  will  recruit  you  a 
regiment  among  the  black  men  of  Ohio  and  the 
Canadian  West.  There  are  a  great  many  runaways 
in  Canada,  and  those  are  the  ones  who  will  go  back 
and  fight."  "  Very  good,"  said  the  governor; 
"  go  as  soon  as  you  can;  and  our  friend  Bird  will 
take  care  of  the  appropriation  bill."  A  handsome 
recruiting  fund  for  incidental  expenses  had  already 
been  raised,  to  which  Mr.  Stearns  was,  as  usual, 
one  of  the  largest  subscribers. 

He  arrived  at  Buffalo,  New  York,  the  next  day 
at  noon,  and  went  to  a  colored  barber  to  have  his 
hair  cut.  He  disclosed  the  object  of  his  mission, 
and  the  barber  promised  to  bring  some  of  his 
friends  together  to  discuss  the  matter  that  evening. 
The  following  evening  Mr.  Stearns  called  a  meet 
ing  of  the  colored  residents  of  Buffalo,  and  made 
an  address  to  them,  urging  the  importance  of  the 
occasion,  and  the  advantage  it  would  be  to  their 
brethren  in  slavery  and  to  the  future  of  the  negro 
race,  if  they  were  to  become  well  drilled  and  prac 
ticed  soldiers.  "  When  you  have  rifles  in  your 
hands,"  he  said,  "  your  freedom  will  be  secure." 

287 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

To  the  objection  that  only  white  officers  were  being 
commissioned  for  the  colored  regiments,  he  replied : 
"  See  how  public  opinion  changes ;  how  rapidly 
we  move  forward.  Only  three  months  ago  I  was 
hissed  in  a  town  meeting  for  proposing  the  enlist 
ment  of  colored  troops,  and  now  here  we  are.  I 
have  no  doubt  that  before  six  months  a  number  of 
colored  officers  will  be  commissioned."  His  speech 
was  received  with  applause;  but  when  he  asked, 
"Now,  who  will  volunteer?"  there  was  a  pro 
longed  silence.  At  length  a  sturdy-looking  fellow 
arose  and  said :  "  I  would  enlist  if  I  felt  sure  that 
my  wife  and  children  would  not  suffer  for  it." 
"  I  will  look  after  your  family,"  said  Mr.  Stearns, 
"  and  see  that  they  want  for  nothing ;  but  it  is 
a  favor  I  cannot  promise  again."  After  this  ten 
or  twelve  more  enrolled  themselves,  and,  having 
provided  for  their  maintenance  until  they  could  be 
transported  to  the  camp  at  Readville,  he  went  over 
to  Niagara  on  the  Canada  side  to  see  what  might 
be  effected  in  that  vicinity. 

While  dining  at  the  Clifton  House  it  happened 
that  there  were  at  the  same  table  a  number  of 
secessionists,  who,  having  by  chance  escaped  from 
the  Confederacy,  were  in  no  hurry  to  return  South 
again.  Having  discovered  that  Mr.  Stearns  was 
from  Boston,  they  talked  to  each  other  about  the 
"  cowardly  Yankees  "  and  "  nigger  "  abolitionists 
in  such  loud  tones  as  were  evidently  intended  to 
taunt  and  exasperate  him.  Having  endured  this 
for  some  time  he  finally  turned  to  his  companion 

and  said  in  a  clear,  strong  voice,  "  Mr.  ,  I 

consider  it  the  proudest  act  of  my  life  that  I  gave 

288 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

good  old  John  Brown  every  pike  and  rifle  he 
carried  to  Harper's  Ferry."  Such  a  retort  was 
more  than  his  tormentors  had  looked  for;  they 
seemed  abashed  by  it,  and  soon  left  the  room.  A 
few  days  later  he  returned  to  Boston  to  arrange 
his  affairs  for  a  more  prolonged  absence. 

In  less  than  a  week  he  was  again  in  Buffalo, 
organizing  a  recruiting  bureau,  with  agencies  in 
Canada  and  the  Western  states  as  far  as  St.  Louis 
—where  there  were  a  large  number  of  refugees 
who  had  lately  been  liberated  by  Grant's  campaign 
at  Vicksburg.  Mr.  Lucian  B.  Eaton,  an  able 
lawyer  and  prominent  politician  of  the  city,  ac 
cepted  the  agency  there  as  a  work  of  patriotic 
devotion.  Among  Mr.  Stearns'  most  successful 
agents  were  the  Langston  brothers,  colored  scions 
of  a  noble  Virginia  family ;  both  excellent  men  and 
influential  among  their  people.  All  his  agents  were 
required  to  write  a  letter  to  him  every  evening 
giving  an  account  of  their  day's  work,  and  every 
week  to  send  him  an  account  of  their  expenses. 
Thus  Mr.  Stearns  sat  at  his  desk  and  directed  their 
movements  by  telegraph  as  easily  as  pieces  on  a 
chess-board.  The  appropriation  for  transportation 
had  already  passed  the  Massachusetts  Legislature, 
but  where  this  did  not  suffice  to  meet  an  emergency 
he  drew  freely  on  his  own  resources. 

The  weather  in  Buffalo  during  that  March  and 
a  part  of  April  was  rainy,  damp,  and  dismal  to  an 
extreme;  but  Mr.  Stearns  did  not  seem  to  notice 
whether  the  sun  shone  or  not.  He  had  no  acquaint 
ances  in  the  city,  and  entertained  himself  in  the 
evening  with  writing  a  pamphlet  on  currency  and 
19  289 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

banking,  the  bill  for  establishing  national  banks 
being  at  that  time  before  Congress.  This  he  had 
published  and  circulated  among  bankers  and  other 
prominent  individuals,  besides  sending  a  copy  to 
every  senator  and  representative  in  Congress.  In 
it  he  pointed  out  certain  dangers  to  which  the 
scheme  was  open,  and  may  have  helped  to  guard 
against  them.  Whether  Mr.  Stearns  realized  the 
inestimable  blessing  which  the  national  banks 
would  prove  to  this  country  is  uncertain;  but  he 
recognized  that  according  to  this  scheme,  as  with 
most  of  Secretary  Chase's  plans,  the  government 
was  going  to  obtain  funds  at  very  usurious  rates. 
A  group  of  capitalists  might  obtain  a  charter  for 
a  bank,  and  then  make  use  of  the  paper  money 
which  they  received  from  the  government  to  pur 
chase  more  bonds,  and  with  these  obtain  more 
paper  money;  and  so  continue  until  they  realized 
a  yearly  profit  of  thirty  or  forty  per  cent,  on  their 
original  investment.  During  the  first  ten  years 
of  their  existence  the  national  banks  made  enor 
mous  profits. 

One  morning  a  broad-shouldered,  cheerful  look 
ing  gentleman  entered  his  room  and  introduced 
himself  as  Samuel  Wilkeson.  He  said :  "  I  hear 
you  are  recruiting  colored  regiments  for  Governor 
Andrew.  Now  I  am  a  black  Republican  myself, 
and  I  wish  you  all  success.  I  know  everybody  in 
Buffalo,  and  if  I  can  be  of  service  to  you  at  any 
time  please  inform  me."  This  was  a  cheerful  com 
mencement,  and  a  lively  conversation  followed. 
Mr.  Wilkeson  was  as  good  as  his  word,  and  better 
than  a  mercantile  agency.  Mr.  Stearns  could  not 

290 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

have  found  a  more  helpful  friend.  He  called 
every  day  to  learn  how  affairs  were  progress 
ing,  and  to  talk  over  the  news  from  the  seat  of 
war. 

By  the  last  of  April  recruits  were  coming  at  the 
rate  of 'thirty  or  forty  per  diem,  and  Mr.  Stearns 
telegraphed  to  the  governor :  "  I  can  fill  up  another 
regiment  for  you  in  less  than  six  weeks  " — a  hint 
which  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  Massachu 
setts  Fifty-fifth,  with  Norwood  P.  Hallowell,  a 
gallant  officer  who  had  been  wounded  at  Antie- 
tam,  for  its  commander. 

The  governor,  however,  appears  to  have  sud 
denly  changed  his  mind,  for  on  May  7  Mr.  Stearns 
wrote  to  his  wife: 

"  Yesterday  at  noon,  I  learned  from  Governor  Andrew 
by  telegram  that  he  did  not  intend  to  raise  another  regi 
ment.  I  was  thunderstruck.  My  work  for  three  months 
would  nearly,  or  quite,  fall  to  the  ground.  I  telegraphed 
in  reply :  '  You  told  me  to  take  all  the  men  I  could  get 
without  regard  to  regiments.  Have  two  hundred  men  on 
the  way;  what  shall  I  do  with  them?'  The  reply  came 
simultaneously  with  your  letter :  '  Considering  your  tele 
graph  and  Wild's  advice,  another  regiment  may  proceed; 
expecting  it  full  in  four  weeks.  Present  want  of  troops 
will  probably  prevent  my  being  opposed.'  I  replied :  '  I 
thank  God  for  your  telegram  received  this  morning.  You 
shall  have  the  men  in  four  weeks.'  Now  all  is  right. 

"  If  I  had  received  a  refusal  to  accept  more  men,  my 
plans  were  all  laid.  I  should  have  gone  to  Washington 
to-morrow  morning,  having  recalled  my  transportation  agent 
from  the  West  to  take  my  place  here,  and  have  presented  a 
clean-cut  plan  to  Stanton  for  raising  colored  regiments, 
North  and  South,  which  I  have  no  doubt  he  would  have 
accepted.  Now  I  go  on  with  my  work  again." 

291 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

The  surgeon-general  had  detailed  one  Dr. 
Browne  for  duty  at  Buffalo,  to  examine  Mr. 
Stearns'  recruits,  and  if  found  fit  for  service  by 
him  there  was  presumably  no  need  of  a  second 
examination.  This,  however,  did  not  suit  the  med 
ical  examiner  at  Readville,  who,  either  from  ill 
will  or  from  some  unknown  motive,  insisted  on 
rejecting  every  sixth  man  that  was  sent  there  from 
the  West.  Thus  there  was  entailed  an  immense 
expense  on  Mr.  Stearns,  which  he  had  no  funds  to 
meet,  and  he  was  obliged  to  negotiate  a  private 
loan  of  ten  thousand  dollars,  without  knowing  in 
the  least  how  or  where  he  was  to  be  reimbursed. 
Remonstrances  to  Dr.  Browne  were  of  no  avail, 
for  he  declared  that  if  he  were  to  exclude  a  larger 
number  he  did  not  know  by  what  rule  he  should 
do  it.  Out  of  a  lot  of  twelve  recruits  sent  back 
from  Readville,  eleven  passed  inspection  by  another 
medical  examiner  in  Buffalo.  Having  satisfied 
himself  that  the  error  was  not  on  his  side  of  the 
fence,  he  wrote  a  letter  of  complaint  to  Governor 
Andrew,  setting  forth  the  facts  as  stated  above, 
and  adding  this  almost  pathetic  account  of  himself : 

"  I  have  worked  every  day,  Sunday  included,  for 
more  than  two  months,  and  from  fourteen  to  six 
teen  hours  a  day.  I  have  filled  the  West  with  my 
agents.  I  have  compelled  the  railroads  to  accept 
lower  terms  of  transportation  than  the  Government 
rates.  I  have  filled  a  letter-book  of  five  hundred 
pages,  most  of  it  closely  written." 

This  letter  is  dated  the  Mansion  House,  Buffalo, 
292 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

May  8,  1863,  and  on  it  is  the  following  endorse 
ment: 

'  This  letter  is  respy.  referred  to  Surgeon  Genl. 
Dole  with  the  request  that  he  would  confer  with 
Surgeon  Stone  and  Lt.  Col.  Hallowell.  It  is  sur 
prising,  and  not  fair  nor  fit,  that  a  man  trying,  as 
Mr.  Stearns  is,  to  serve  the  country  at  a  risk  should 
suffer  thus  by  such  disagreement  of  opinion. 

"  JOHN  A.  ANDREW." 

Shortly  after  this  he  returned  to  Boston  for  a 
flying  visit,  and  was  met  in  the  street  by  a  philan 
thropic  lady,  who  said :  "  Where  have  you  been 
all  this  time,  Mr.  Stearns?  I  supposed  you  were 
going  to  help  us  organize  the  colored  regiment. 
You  will  be  glad  to  know  that  it  is  doing  well. 
We  have  nearly  a  thousand  men."  Mr.  Stearns 
made  no  reply,  but  bowed  and  passed  on.  Her 
ignorance  was  the  more  surprising  since  she  fre 
quently  went  to  the  camp  at  Readville  and  was 
well  acquainted  with  the  officers  there.  Neither 
did  the  adjutant-general  make  mention  of  Mr. 
Stearns'  exceptional  services  in  his  report  on 
Massachusetts  in  the  Civil  War.* 

A  week  later  we  find  Mr.  Stearns  writing  again 
to  his  wife  from  Buffalo : 

"  I  comfort  myself  with  the  belief  that  this  is  our  appointed 
work.  I  did  not  seek  it;  it  sought  me  out.  You  did  not 

*  Likewise  the  Editor  of  the  Century  refused  to  publish 
any  account  of  Major  Stearns'  work  among  his  Civil  War 
contributions.  He  probably  did  not  know  who  Major 
Stearns  was. 

293 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

seek  it,  but  the  divine  spirit  within  you  impelled  the  work 
which  was  so  contrary  to  all  your  ideas  of  a  happy  life; 
and  now  we  fully  understand  each  other  and  the  work  that 
is  before  us.  A  sweet  peace  has  come  to  my  soul,  so 
sweet  that  I  welcome  the  sadness  that  comes  with  it. 

"  I  have  no  news  of  importance  to  write  you  except  that 
Casimir  has  plead  guilty  to  the  theft,  and  has  been  sentenced 
to  four  years  and  six  months'  hard  labor  in  the  state  prison 
of  Kansas.  How  terrible  the  career  of  one  so  young  and 
gifted.  He  writes  that  he  could  endure  it  if  he  was  not 
obliged  to  work  in  the  streets  of  Leavenworth  with  a  ball 
and  chain  attached  to  his  leg.  My  heart  bleeds  for  him. 
With  a  career  of  useful  and  honorable  service  open  to  him, 
he  has  sacrificed  all  to  a  mean  and  pitiful  vanity." 

About  the  first  of  June  the  Fifty-fourth  was 
ordered  to  South  Carolina.  The  regiment  was 
reviewed  on  Boston  Common  by  Governor  Andrew 
and  marched  in  silence  around  the  Public  Garden. 
Suddenly  Dr.  Henry  I.  Bowditch  rushed  out  of 
his  office  on  Boylston  street  and  called  for  three 
cheers  for  the  Massachusetts  Fifty-fourth.  Then 
for  the  first  time  patriotism  rose  above  prejudice, 
and  the  crowd  responded  with  a  good  will.  That 
evening  there  was  a  Union  meeting  in  the  Tremont 
Temple,  and  congratulations  were  showered  on 
Governor  Andrew ;  but  Wendell  Phillips  arose  and 
said :  "  We  owe  it  mainly  to  a  private  citizen,  to 
George  L.  Stearns  of  Medford,  that  these  heroic 
men  are  mustered  into  the  service," — a  statement 
which  astonished  a  good  many. 

The  governors  of  the  Western  states  had  never 
considered  their  colored  population  as  of  any 
importance,  but  now  when  it  was  being  drained 
off  to  fill  up  the  quota  of  Massachusetts  troops 

294 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

they  began  to  think  differently.  The  governor  of 
Ohio  advised  Governor  Andrew  that  no  more 
recruiting  could  be  permitted  in  his  state  unless 
the  recruits  were  assigned  to  the  Ohio  quota. 
Andrew  replied  that  the  governor  of  Ohio  was  at 
liberty  to  recruit  colored  regiments  of  his  own; 
but  the  Massachusetts  Fifty-fifth,  having  now  a 
complement,  it  was  decided  not  to  continue  the 
business  any  further,  and  Mr.  Stearns'  labors  at 
Buffalo  were  thus  brought  to  an  end  about  the 
middle  of  June. 

Wendell  Phillips  wrote  to  Mr.  Stearns,  June  19: 

"  DEAR  STEARNS : 

"  Yours  reed,  and  communicated  to  Sanborn.  We  con 
gratulate  you — your  success  seems  full. 

"  I  forward  the  official  document  as  requested  with  two 
remarks.  1st.  Mr.  Jay  Browne  is  no  '  friend '  of  mine.  He 
knew  me  and  wrote  me,  and,  as  in  duty  bound,  I  forwarded 
his  letter  to  Andrew.  2d.  I  remember  well  our  understand 
ing,  a  wise  one,  that  you  had  nothing  to  do  with  commis 
sions,  and  I  had  nothing  to  do  in  recommending  any  one 
to  you." 

Mr.  Stearns  believed,  like  Bacon,  that  the  pre 
cincts  of  the  court  of  justice,  and  every  corner 
thereof,  should  be  swept  clean;  and  he  lived  up 
to  this.  In  the  eighteen  or  twenty  colored  regi 
ments  that  he  organized,  he  never  asked  a  single 
commission  for  any  of  his  friends. 

After  a  hasty  visit  to  his  home  he  went  to 
Washington  with  the  intention  of  offering  his 
recruiting  organization  to  the  general  govern 
ment.  He  arrived  at  Willard's  Hotel  in  the  after 
noon,  and  at  the  dinner-table  met  Mr.  Fred  Law 

295 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

Olmstead,  the  chief  of  the  United  States  Sanitary 
Commission,  and  always  one  of  his  warmest 
friends.  He  explained  the  object  of  his  visit,  add 
ing  that  he  proposed  to  call  on  Secretary  Stanton 
that  evening.  "  I  will  go  with  you  and  introduce 
you,"  said  Mr.  Olmstead.  Secretary  Stanton  had 
been  watching  the  course  of  public  opinion  and 
was  prepared  for  the  occasion.  He  said  to  Mr. 
Stearns :  "  I  have  heard  of  your  recruiting  bureau, 
and  I  think  you  would  be  the  best  man  to  run  the 
machine  you  have  constructed.  I  will  make  you 
an  assistant  adjutant-general  with  the  rank  of 
major,  and  I  will  give  you  authority  to  recruit 
colored  regiments  all  over  the  country."  M'r. 
Stearns  thanked  him  and  replied  that  there  was 
nothing  which  he  had  so  much  at  heart  as  enlisting 
the  black  men  on  a  large  scale ;  for  no  people  could 
be  said  to  be  secure  in  their  freedom  unless  they 
were  also  soldiers;  but  that  his  wife  was  unwell 
and  had  suffered  much  from  his  absence  already, 
and  he  did  not  feel  that  he  ought  to  accept  the  offer 
without  her  consent.  In  answer  to  the  question, 
how  funds  for  recruiting  were  to  be  obtained  with 
out  any  appropriation  by  Congress,  Mr.  Stanton 
said  they  could  be  supplied  from  the  secret-service 
fund. 

When  Mr.  Stearns  and  Mr.  Olmstead  were  alone 
on  the  street  again  the  latter  said :  "  Mr.  Stearns, 
now  go  to  your  room,  and  sleep  if  you  can" 

There  is  no  question  as  to  Secretary  Stanton's 
patriotism  or  ability.  More  than  any  other  man 
in  the  government  at  that  time,  he  placed  his 
shoulder  to  the  wheel.  He  doubtless  died  of  his 

296 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

exertions  during  the  war,  as  Stearns  and  Andrew 
did.  He  was,  however,  of  an  impulsive  nature 
with  a  tendency  to  exaggeration,  and  made  rash 
promises  which  he  afterward  revoked  without 
regret  or  apology.  The  whirlwind  of  affairs  in 
which  he  lived  may  be  sufficient  to  account  for 
this.  Both  General  Sherman  and  Mr.  Stearns  had 
the  same  experience  with  him. 

Having  returned  to  Medford,  and  obtaining  his 
wife's  consent  to  a  more  prolonged  absence,  he 
ordered  his  recruiting  bureau  to  report  at  Phila 
delphia,  where  we  find  him  writing  again  to  Mrs. 
Stearns  on  June  26: 

"  Yesterday  General  Hunter  was  here  on  his  way  to 
Princeton.  I  had  a  long  talk  with  him.  He  says  Mont 
gomery  is  a  natural  soldier  and  a  splendid  man ;  indorsed 

fully  all  I  said  of  him.  That  is  a  good  drill  officer 

but  in  fight  fails  to  take  advantage  of  his  position. 

"  Philadelphians  are  much  excited  about  the  raid,  or 
invasion  of  their  state,  but  it  does  not  penetrate  my  rooms. 
We  open  camp  here  to-day  with  our  company." 

Two  weeks  later  Mr.  Stearns  returned  to  Boston, 
and,  arriving  early  in  the  morning,  found  the  north 
end  of  the  city  in  the  possession  of  a  mob,  infuri 
ated  at  the  idea  of  being  drafted  to  fight  for  the 
"  niggers."  There  was  no  way  for  him  to  reach 
his  home  except  by  a  circuitous  route  in  a 
carriage. 

He  went  to  the  Parker  House,  enjoyed  a  good 
breakfast,  ordered  Ward's  fastest  span  of  horses, 
and  went  up  to  see  Governor  Andrew.  As  soon  as 
he  entered  the  governor's  room  Andrew  called  out 
to  him :  "  Stearns,  you  are  just  the  man  I  want. 

297 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

There  is  a  first-rate  militia  company  in  Woburn, 
and  I  cannot  get  word  to  them  because  the  wires 
are  all  cut.  Will  you  drive  out  there  and  give  my 
order  to  the  captain  ?  "  This  was  exactly  what 
Mr.  Stearns  would  like  to  do,  and  while  the  order 
was  being  made  out  the  governor  spoke  of  his 
plans  for  suppressing  the  riot.  "  I  expect  we 
shall  have  to  shoot  some  of  them,  but  I  hate 
to  do  it,"  he  said.  "  Poor  misguided  creatures ! 
Who  are  the  leaders  that  have  set  them  on  to 
do  this  ?  "  Mr.  Stearns  thought  it  might  have 
been  planned  before  the  rebellion  commenced. 
An  hour  and  a  half  later  the  Woburn  company 
was  notified,  and  taken  in  a  special  train  to  East 
Cambridge. 

The  following  Monday  Mr.  Stearns,  having 
found  that  his  son  was  to  be  examined  to  enter 
Harvard  College,  drove  the  boy  in  his  buggy  to  the 
college  gate,  and  as  he  left  him  said :  "  Remember, 
not  only  while  you  are  in  college  but  all  through 
life,  that  a  man  is  known  by  the  company  he 
keeps." 

The  New  York  riot  was  a  far  more  serious 
affair  than  the  one  in  Boston.  Every  colored  man 
that  fell  into  the  clutches  of  the  mob  met  his  death, 
and  one  negro  was  roasted  alive  in  Madison 
Square.  Archbishop  McCloskey  made  a  speech  to 
the  rioters  in  which  he  indirectly  expressed  his 
sympathy  with  them.  A  number  of  houses  were 
sacked,  and  among  them  that  of  Mrs.  James  Gib 
bons,  the  sister  of  John  Hopper  and  the  most 
philanthropic  woman  in  the  city.  Her  friends  ral 
lied  to  her  support,  and  Joseph  Choate,  late  United 

298 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

States  Minister  to  England,  wrote  to  Mr.  Stearns 
in  her  behalf,  saying: 

"  This  last  calamity  to  the  house  and  family  of  Mrs. 
Gibbons  (the  sacking  of  her  home  by  the  recent  riot)  pre 
sents  a  fit  opportunity  for  her  friends  and  those  of  her 
children  to  bear  a  testimony  to  the  esteem  in  which  they 
hold  her.  We  propose,  therefore,  to  give  her  a  benefit. 

"  Mrs.  G.,  as  you  know,  has  spent  her  whole  life  in  unre 
warded  devotion  to  that  same  wretched  class  of  people 
who  have  now  so  ruthlessly  destroyed  her  home,  and  she 
has  spent  twelve  months  of  the  last  sixteen  at  her  own 
expense  in  nursing  our  sick  and  wounded  in  the  hospitals, 
utterly  regardless  of  her  own  interests,  and  now  she  returns 
to  find  her  home  a  desert,  and  literally  has  hardly  where 
to  lay  her  head.  It  is  high  time,  therefore,  for  her  friends 
to  show  her  that  her  good  works  have  not  been  all  in  vain. 
Besides.  I  know  that  unless  something  of  the  kind  is  done, 
the  family  will  actually  suffer  from  the  recent  loss." 

It  is  not  likely  that  this  appeal  was  made  in  vain. 
John  Hopper  himself  died  of  apoplexy  the  year 
following  at  his  summer  residence  on  the  Hudson, 
while  in  a  fit  of  exasperation  with  some  Irishmen. 

Mrs.  Stearns  at  this  time  had  an  Irish  cook, 
whose  brother  worked  in  a  boiler-shop  at  East 
Boston,  and  it  was  learned  through  her  six  months 
later  that  the  rioters  had  marked  the  houses  of  all 
the  antislavery  people,  and  that  they  had  intended 
to  come  to  Medford  and  burn  down  Mr.  Stearns' 
house,  and  kill  him  if  they  could  find  him. 

Mr.  Stearns  wrote  to  his  friend,  Dr.  W.  J.  Baner 
of  New  York  City,  dated  July  17; 

"  You  have  been  called  to  a  fearful  ordeal,  but  one  I 
trust  necessary  for  the  future  stability  of  our  government 
and  civilization, — the  result  of  New  York  City  legislation 

299 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

for  the  past  ten  or  twenty  years.  Nothing  could  cure  the 
evil  but  a  full  appreciation  of  its  effects  on  the  property 
of  your  citizens.  You  have  men  among  you  always  ready 
to  inflame  the  passions  of  the  ignorant  and  debased,  but  too 
cowardly  to  publicly  control  the  element  when  roused  to 
fury.  Those  men  must  be  unearthed  and  the  punishment 
due  to  their  crimes  meted  out  to  them,  as  a  warning  in  the 
future,  or  you  will  be  called  to  do  the  work  over  again, 
perhaps  under  still  more  trying  circumstances. 

"  When  the  rebellion  broke  out  here  I  was  with  our  Gov 
ernor.  I  told  him  it  was  rebellion  (not  riot),  organized  by 
Jeff.  Davis,  when  here  in  1860,  and  only  controlled  by  cir 
cumstances  till  the  present  time.  What  I  have  been  talk 
ing  in  private  to  my  friends  for  two  years  is  made  manifest, 
and  if  we  would  have  peace  and  quiet  in  the  future,  we  must 
have  the  leaders  arrested  and  punished. 

"Fortunately  for  Boston  and  all  New  England,  a  dose 
of  canister  on  the  first  night  fired  into  a  dense  crowd,  which 
is  said  to  have  killed  and  wounded  more  than  fifty,  settled 
the  affair,  and  we  have  been  safe  here  from  that  moment." 

The  result   of  the  draft  riots  was  to  greatly 
strengthen  the  hands  of  the  administration. 


300 


XIX 

ASSISTANT  ADJUTANT-GENERAL 

THE  last  thing  Mr.  Stearns  expected  was  to 
become  an  army  officer  with  shoulder-straps  and  a 
sword,  and  he  confessed  that  he  did  not  like  the 
feeling  of  it.  He  purchased  the  simplest  regalia 
that  he  could  obtain,  and  Secretary  Stanton  was 
obliged  to  notify  him  that  all  officers  who  called 
at  the  War  Department  were  expected  to  appear 
in  full  uniform.  He  never  wore  his  sword,  except 
on  such  occasions. 

When  he  returned  to  Philadelphia,  the  Qth  of 
July,  he  found  the  regiment  already  half  filled  by 
his  efficient  corps  of  assistants. 

The  battle  of  Gettysburg  had  stirred  Philadel 
phia  to  its  depths,  and  its  citizens  were  prepared 
to  welcome  any  measures  that  promised  a  vigorous 
prosecution  of  the  war.  Mr.  Stearns  was  the  man 
of  the  hour,  and  never  before  had  he  been  treated 
with  such  consideration.  He  was  at  once  enrolled 
among  the  members  of  the  Union  League,  the 
parent  of  all  the  union  league  clubs  in  the  country ; 
and  not  composed,  like  the  one  in  Boston,  of  pro- 
slavery  Whigs,  who  black-balled  all  candidates 
who  had  been  distinguished  in  the  antislavery 
movement.  A  recruiting  committee  was  formed 
from  among  the  most  prominent  men  in  the  city, 
who  rented  the  house  at  1210  Chestnut  Street  for 
their  headquarters.  Conspicuous  among  them  was 

301 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

Hon.  William  D.  Kelley,  who  served  as  a  member 
of  Congress  from  that  time  till  1895.  Distin 
guished  men  and  fashionable  ladies  went  daily  to 
Camp  William  Penn  to  witness  the  evolutions  of 
the  colored  regiment.  Fine  equipages  filled  the 
road  thither  every  afternoon.  Mr.  Stearns  was 
elected  an  honorary  member  of  several  Philadel 
phia  clubs,  and  invited  to  Henry  C.  Carey's  vespers, 
as  the  Sunday  evening  meetings  of  that  distin 
guished  writer  and  his  friends  were  called.  They 
drank  Rhine  wine  together  and  discussed  public 
affairs. 

He  wrote  to  Mrs.  Stearns  on  July  12: 

"  As  you  like  poetical  avenges  I  will  give  you  one  of  the 
amusing  sort.  Yesterday  at  the  Union  League  Club  a  new- 
made  friend  said :  '  I  am  going  to  have  you  introduced  at 

Club ;  it  is  the  most  exclusive  here,  and  by  courtesy 

you  will  have  admission  for  a  month.     I  have  a  particular 

reason  for  this.    You  know  the  T ms,  and  I  do  too.    They 

are  men  who  think  all  mankind  ought  to  bow  down  to  them. 
They  can't  understand  why  you  should  have  this  appoint 
ment,  and  Bill  sneers  a  little  at  it,  but  is  evidently  annoyed. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Club  and  I  want  you  to  meet  him 
there.'  So  I  have  promised  to  be  introduced  as  soon  as 
my  accomplished  Major  Hunt  arrives.  Won't  I  have  fun! 
Last  evening  I  went  to  a  most  enthusiastic  meeting  of 
colored  men,  and  made  a  short  speech,  reminding  them  of 
the  divine  compensation  of  John  Brown's  advent  at  Har 
per's  Ferry,  in  return  for  Captain  Pate's  raid,  and  Colonel 
Montgomery  in  South  Carolina  in  return  for  Buford. 

"  We  have  a  camp  at  Chelten  Hills,  nine  miles  from  the 
Continental;  a  beautiful  location  I  am  told.  I  named 
it  Camp  Wm.  Penn.  The  Quakers  wince,  but  I  tell  them  it 
is  established  on  peace  principles ;  that  is,  to  conquer  a 
lasting  peace." 

302 


HENRY   C.   CAREY 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Americans,  in  spite  of  their  republicanism,  are 
as  fond  of  titles  and  respect  them  as  much  as  any 
other  people.  As  soon  as  Mr.  Stearns  received  this 
important  appointment  many  old  Boston  Whigs 
who  had  not  noticed  him  for  twenty  years  bowed 
when  they  met  him  on  the  street,  and  the  father 
of  one  of  the  blackguard  boys  who  had  hazed  Mr. 
Stearns'  sons  at  school — probably  for  political 
reasons — stopped  to  speak  with  him,  and  to  inquire 
concerning  the  progress  of  his  work,  which  was  so 
important  for  the  republic. 

Fine  weather  does  not  often  last  more  than  a 
few  days  at  a  time,  and  in  the  midst  of  these  fes 
tivities  suddenly  came  Secretary  Stanton's  order 
reducing  the  pay  of  colored  soldiers  from  thirteen 
to  eight  dollars  a  month.  This  was  a  breach  of 
contract,  and  the  men  had  a  right  to  their  discharge, 
if  they  wished  it ;  but  that,  of  course,  was  not  per 
mitted  them.  Such  an  action  could  only  be  excused 
on  the  ground  of  extreme  necessity.  The  Massa 
chusetts  Legislature  promptly  voted  to  pay  the 
deficiency  to  the  Fifty- fourth  and  Fifty-fifth  regi 
ments  ;  but  the  one  at  Philadelphia  was  in  organiza 
tion,  and  Mr.  Stearns  found  himself  in  the  position 
of  a  man  who  has  made  promises  which  he  is 
unable  to  fulfil.  They  were  few,  even  among  Bos 
ton  merchants  of  that  time,  who  would  have  been 
so  much  troubled  by  this  as  he  was ;  but  his  sense 
of  commercial  honor  was  almost  a  romantic  one. 
'  The  word  of  a  merchant,  your  Majesty,"  said 
the  Prussian  capitalist  who  ransomed  Berlin  when 
it  was  captured  by  the  Russians.  Mr.  Stearns  felt 
so  badly  that  he  talked  of  resigning,  and  bringing 

303 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

a  lawsuit  against  the  government  for  the  benefit 
of  his  recruits.  Hon.  William  D.  Kelley  and  two 
other  gentlemen  of  the  committee  went  with  him 
to  Washington  to  see  Stanton  and  to  endeavor  to 
persuade  him  to  revoke  the  order.  Kelley  was  one 
of  the  most  persistent  debaters  who  ever  sat  in 
Congress,  and  he  argued  the  question  with  the 
secretary  of  war  for  more  than  an  hour,  to  the 
great  disgust  of  the  latter ;  but  Stanton  was  as  firm 
as  Napoleon  ever  was.  Mr.  Stearns  never  had 
another  pleasant  interview  with  him. 

The  secretary's  argument  was  that  some  white 
regiments  had  complained  of  being  placed  on  an 
equality  with  negroes,  and  that  it  interfered  with 
recruiting  white  soldiers.  Major  Stearns  wanted 
to  appeal  to  the  President,  but  Judge  Kelley  warned 
him  that  it  would  be  useless  to  do  so. 

The  next  morning  some  one  remarked  to  Mr. 
Stearns  that  it  was  exceedingly  hot  weather  even 
for  Washington,  and  his  reply  was :  "  Yes,  but  the 
fever  within  is  worse  than  the  heat  without."  He 
paced  across  his  room  for  some  time,  evidently  in 
great  mental  perturbation.  At  length  he  said 
decisively :  "  I  will  go  and  consult  with  Olmstead." 

He  found  Mr.  Olmstead  friendly  and  sympa 
thetic.  He  said  to  him :  "  I  am  unable  to  keep  my 
word  to  these  men  I  have  recruited,  and  I  see  noth 
ing  for  me  now  but  to  resign  and  give  up  the  whole 
business."  Mr.  Olmstead  spoke  of  Secretary  Stan- 
ton  in  no  complimentary  terms,  but  he  advised  Mr. 
Stearns  to  continue  with  his  work,  and  endure 
all  he  could  for  the  good  of  the  cause,  not  to  be 
worried  by  evils  for  which  he  was  in  no  way 

304 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

responsible.  Mr.  Stearns  returned  to  Willard's 
with  a  more  cheerful  countenance. 

Worse  news  was  yet  in  store  for  him.  Late  in 
the  afternoon  Judge  Kelley  came  in  with  a  news 
paper  and  with  eyes  ferret  and  fiery — "  Have  you 
heard  it,  Major?"  he  said.  "The  Massachusetts 
Fifty-fourth  has  been  repulsed  at  Fort  Wagner 
and  cut  to  pieces.  Colonel  Shaw  and  half  the 
officers  are  killed."  Mr.  Stearns  grasped  the  paper 
and  sank  into  a  chair.  I  never  at  any  time  saw 
him  so  agitated. 

There  was  a  colored  regiment  in  process  of 
formation  at  Baltimore,  and  another  was  supposed 
to  be  organizing  at  Fortress  Monroe.  Both  were 
nominally  under  Mr.  Stearns'  supervision,  and  he 
inspected  the  former  on  his  return  trip  to  Phila 
delphia,  and  sent  his  son  to  investigate  and  report 
on  the  latter.  Not  the  trace  of  a  colored  regiment 
could  be  discovered  at  Fortress  Monroe,  but  there 
were  scores  of  Union  officers  lounging  and  smoking 
on  the  piazza  of  the  Hygeia  Hotel.  Mr.  Stearns 
thought  that  business  economy  had  better  begin  by 
reducing  the  number  of  officers  rather  than  the  pay 
of  the  soldiers. 

Immediately  on  his  return  to  Philadelphia  he 
wrote  the  following  letter  to  Governor  Andrew : 

"To  His  EXCELLENCY  JOHN  A.  ANDREW. 

"  DEAR  SIR  : — Last  week  a  deputation  from  my  Philadelphia 
committee  visited  Washington  to  confer  with  the  Government 
in  relation  to  colored  troops.  Most  prominent  in  the  con 
ference  was  the  question  of  '  pay  and  bounty  the  same  as 
white  troops.' 

"  To-day  they  send  to  Washington  a  memorial  setting 
forth  their  reasons  for  asking  that  colored  troops  be  placed 
20  305 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

in  every  way  on  the  same  footing  as  white.  You  will  see 
by  reference  that  the  conscription  law  makes  no  difference 
in  pay,  and  the  committee  think  that  should  control  the 
earlier  legislation. 

************* 
"  My  heart  bleeds  for  our  gallant  officers  and  soldiers  of 
the  54th.     All  did  their  duty  nobly.     I  arn  told  that  three 
companies  of  the  54th  saved  the  Maine  regiment  engaged 
in  the  battle. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be 

"  Very  respectfully, 

"  GEORGE  L.  STEARNS." 

Mr.  Stearns  evidently  did  not  intend  to  give 
up  the  fight  for  equal  pay.  He  was  not  accustomed 
to  express  his  feeling  in  words,  but  the  Fort  Wag 
ner  disaster  was  for  the  time  being  a  crushing  blow 
to  him. 

Mr.  Stearns  wrote  to  his  wife  from  Baltimore 
July  26: 

"  I  am  still  perplexed  as  to  the  mode  in  which  I  can  best 
carry  out  the  work  intrusted  to  me.  It  is  so  difficult  to 
attach  my  mode  of  rapid  working  to  the  slow  routine  of  the 
Department  that  I  sometimes  almost  despair  of  the  task 
and  want  to  abandon  it.  Indeed,  yesterday  I  went  to 
Olmstead  and  asked  his  advice.  He  was  so  clearly  of 
opinion  that  I  must  continue  to  work  in  the  hope  of  better 
times,  that  I  abandoned  the  idea,  and  came  here  to  see 
Colonel  Birney.  Birney  is  a  son  of  the  old  abolitionist,  an 
able  man  and  sound  to  the  core.  He  is  raising  a  regiment 
here  with  good  success,  and  is  just  the  man  for  the  work. 
My  next  work  will  be  here,  and  when  I  get  through  it  I 
trust  my  future  sailing  will  be  plain  and  rapid. 

"  I  have  had  a  short  interview  with  Mr.  Chase,  who  was 
very  gracious ;  too  short  for  me  to  form  an  opinion  of  him. 
He  is  much  interested  in  my  work,  for  it  aids  his  plans, 
and  will  see  me  again. 

306 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

"  Hugh  McCulloch,  to  whom  I  wrote  my  letters  on  cur 
rency,  is  very  much  pleased  with  them.  He  made  an  objec 
tion  which  I  am  at  his  request  to  answer.  It  will  probably 
lead  to  a  correspondence  on  that  subject." 

No  private  business  could  succeed  if  carried  on 
after  the  manner  of  the  national  government  at  that 
time ;  and  this  was  not  the  fault  of  Lincoln's  admin 
istration  at  all,  but  of  the  whole  course  of  Jack 
son  democracy  from  1829  to  1861.  The  clerks 
in  the  various  departments  did  not  hold  their  posi 
tions  from  the  heads  of  those  departments,  but 
from  outside  politicians  who  had  no  connection 
with  the  government  business,  and  as  a  conse 
quence  they  were  saucy  and  insubordinate.  They 
found  it  for  their  interest  to  delay  and  obstruct 
the  procedure  of  business  in  order  to  give  the 
impression  that  they  were  overworked,  and  in  that 
way  make  their  positions  more  secure,  and  if  possi 
ble  of  greater  importance.  As  Carl  Schurz  has 
stated,  they  form  rings  for  mutual  protection,  by 
which  they  often  succeed  in  overawing  chiefs  of 
bureaus,  and  even  cabinet  officers.  Secretary  Stan- 
ton  found  as  much  difficulty  with  his  own  subor 
dinates  as  Mr.  Stearns  did;  and  the  evil,  though 
somewhat  abated  by  civil-service  reform,  still  con 
tinues. 

Every  one  leaves  Philadelphia  in  August  that  is 
able  to  do  so,  but  Mr.  Stearns  kept  fast  to  his 
work,  going  steadily  onward  like  an  ocean  steamer 
through  all  kinds  of  weather.  The  middle  of  the 
month  Secretary  Stanton  ordered  him  to  Nashville, 
Tennessee,  where  a  large  body  of  negroes  had 
collected  in  the  rear  of  General  Rosecrans'  army. 

307 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

Mr.  Stearns  hailed  this  new  departure  with  satis 
faction,  and  on  August  17  he  wrote  to  his  wife: 

"  Stanton  has  waked  up  and  ordered  me  to  plump  myself 
down  in  Tennessee,  right  in  the  centre  of  the  accursed 
institution,  and  go  to  work.  Having  sent  Fred  Douglas 
there  to  stir  up,  I  suppose,  he  wants  me  to  organize  and 
utilize  the  batch.  Well,  it  is  what  I  came  here  to  do  and  as 
that  is  undoubtedly  the  best  place  to  do  it,  I  am  most  happy 
to  go.  McKim  said  I  could  not  reasonably  expect  to  be 
obliged  '  to  rough  it  at  the  Continental '  all  the  time. 

"  My  new  place  for  work  is  to  the  South  what  Buffalo 
was  to  the  West  and  East — a  centre  from  which  to  radiate, 
and  I  have  determined  either  to  burn  slavery  out,  or  be 
burnt  by  it  myself. 

"  Yesterday  I  went  out  to  camp  with  Morris  L.  Hallowell 
and  stopped  a  few  minutes  to  see  Lucretia  Mott.  She 
accepts  very  gracefully  the  present  state  of  affairs,  but  looks 
forward  to  a  state  of  society  when  war  will  be  unnecessary. 
So  do  I,  but  told  her  that  this  war  was  a  civiliser,  not  a 
barbarism.  The  use  of  the  musket  was  the  first  step  in 
the  education  of  the  black  man.  This  she  accepted.  She 
is  a  great  woman.  If  you  want  to  know  how  great  she  is 
draw  her  out  on  principles  not  on  specialties." 

Mr.  Stearns  had  found  himself  continually  em 
barrassed  in  his  government  service  from  lack  of 
sufficient  funds,  and  the  continual  delay  in  having 
his  accounts  audited.  The  auditor  of  the  War 
Department  repeatedly  took  exception  to  expendi 
tures  that  were  absolutely  necessary,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  advance  large  sums  from  his  own  cap 
ital  in  order  to  provide  for  the  current  expenses 
of  his  agents.  Remonstrances  to  the  secretary  of 
war  were  of  little  avail,  and  Mr.  Stearns  began  to 
feel  that  Stanton's  grand  promises  were  coming  to 
an  unfavorable  end. 

308 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

In  this  emergency  he  returned  to  Boston  and 
held  a  conference  with  Mr.  John  M.  Forbes  and 
other  friends ;  and  they  all  agreed  that  he  ought  to 
be  better  supported  in  the  work  of  recruiting  than 
he  had  been.  A  subscription  was  immediately  set 
on  foot,  and  in  a  few  days  a  recruiting  fund  of 
about  thirty  thousand  dollars  was  raised  and  placed 
in  charge  of  Mr.  R.  P.  Hallowell.  This  may  justly 
be  called  a  patriotic  subscription,  for  the  money 
was  not  given,  as  in  all  other  instances,  in  aid  of 
state  or  local  enlistment,  but  for  a  benefit  shared  in 
by  the  whole  country. 

September  5  we  find  him  in  Nashville,  whence 
he  wrote: 

"Left  Louisville  on  Friday  morning  and  arrived  here  at 
6.30  P.M.  Have  seen  Governor  Andy  Johnson.  He  is  well 
disposed,  understands  the  subject,  and  will  co-operate  and 
advise  me.  His  aid  will  be  very  valuable.  From  him  and 
others  I  got  the  following  information.  For  years  a  large 
number  of  persons  in  this  state,  many  of  them  wealthy 
slaveholders,  have  entertained  feelings  hostile  to  slavery, 
but  did  not  dare  to  share  their  thoughts  with  any  man. 
Many  were  afraid  to  think  on  the  subject. 

"  September  6,  1863.  I  had  a  long  talk  with  several 
influential  men  here  last  evening — I  think  it  will  result  in  an 
effort  on  their  part  to  destroy  slavery  in  Tennessee.  They 
are  in  terrible  earnest." 

Andrew  Johnson  was  the  vainest  man  of  his 
time,  and  his  vanity  was  continually  driving  him 
about  in  a  circle.  Mr.  Stearns'  varied  experiences 
with  him  have  an  historical  value.  On  the  loth 
he  wrote  again : 

"  I  opened  a  letter  from  you  this  morning  and  lo,  it  was 
dated  30th  August.  Probably  it  had  strayed  to  Rosecrans 

309 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

at  Chattanooga  and  back  here.  It  breathed  the  old  tale  of 
suffering  sadness.  Such  is  our  life.  One  day  I  am  success 
ful,  and  consequently  happy.  Then,  something  adverse 
casts  me  down,  and  I  have  to  nerve  myself  up  to  the  work. 

"  Governor  Johnson  is  afraid  of  me  (or  rather  was)  and 
opposed  my  work,  and  I  have  been  laboring  to  bring  him 
over  to  the  faith,  and  think  I  have  succeeded,  but  can't  tell 
yet.  If  I  do  it  will  be  a  great  gain,  for  then  we  will  try 
to  settle  the  slavery  question  at  Washington  before  Congress 
meets. 

"  The  Governor  showed  me  recent  letters  from  Lincoln 
and  Chase  that  were  very  encouraging,  Lincoln  looking  to 
Tennessee  for  the  key-note  of  his  policy  for  bringing  back 
the  slave  states;  and  I  should  not  be  surprised  if  I  was  to 
shape  that  policy,  and  the  whole  affair  be  settled  before  it 
was  thought  of  at  the  North." 

On  the  2 ist  of  September  he  wrote  again: 

"  This  is  a  gloomy  day  in  Nashville,  for  the  army  of 
Rosecrans  has  been  brought  to  a  stand,  and  is  in  peril. 
He  is,  however,  a  brave  commander  and  will  do  his  best. 
We  are  not  in  any  danger  here,  being  100  miles  from  the 
seat  of  war,  with  an  almost  impassable  country  between, 
and  troops  enough  here  to  guard  us  from  any  guerilla 
attack  that  might  be  made. 

"  If  you  could  understand  the  nature  of  my  work  you 
would  say,  '  Stay  and  do  it.'  I  am  already  looked  up  to 
by  those  poor  people  as  their  guardian,  and  they  are  very 
grateful.  I  am  offered  fruit  and  carriage  rides,  and  other 
demonstrations,  which  are  gratifying  to  me.  Yesterday  they 
impressed  some  men  for  work,  and  in  the  process  shot  a 
slave,  who,  I  learn,  will  probably  die.  I  am  doing  all  I 
can  for  him,  and  am  taking  measures  to  prevent  a  recur 
rence  of  those  painful  scenes.  I  am  busy  to-day  for  I  have 
just  commenced  recruiting." 

Mr.  Stearns  represents  the  confidence  that  was 
felt  in  General  Rosecrans  among  the  military  men 
at  Nashville ;  and  the  defeat  at  Chickamauga  ought 

310 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

not  to  be  laid  to  Rosecrans'  fault.  After  the  battle 
at  Gettysburg  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war 
might  have  brought  it  to  an  end  in  six  or  nine 
months;  but  Meade,  who  was  a  purely  defensive 
commander,  kept  maneuvering  with  General  Lee 
in  Virginia,  while  the  energetic  Grant  was  retained 
in  Mississippi  against  his  will,  in  the  vain  hope  of 
effecting  a  premature  reconstruction.  This  gave 
the  Confederate  armies  time  to  recuperate,  and 
finally  their  whole  force  was  hurled  on  General 
Rosecrans.  It  was  only  his  bravery,  supported 
by  the  military  genius  of  General  Thomas,  that 
prevented  the  Union  forces  from  being  swept  back 
to  the  Ohio  River,  and  Major  Stearns  with  them. 
Grant's  fine  victory  of  Chattanooga  compensated 
for  much  of  this,  but  six  months  at  least  were 
added  to  the  duration  of  the  war. 

On  October  4  Major  Stearns  wrote  to  John  M. 
Forbes : 

"  Your  letter  of  the  25th  is  at  hand.  Its  suggestions  are 
very  valuable  and  will  receive  immediate  attention.  I  shall 
send  a  copy  of  it  to  Governor  Johnson  for  his  information. 

"  As  I  intimated  to  you  in  Boston,  the  difficulties  of  rais 
ing  colored  regiments  are  not  material  but  political,  and  will 
now  fully  explain  my  meaning. 

"  I  went  to  Buffalo  in  February  last ;  the  public  mind  was 
unprepared  for  the  work,  and  we  had  no  success  until  it  was 
shaped  and  led  to  a  full  expression  in  favor  of  it.  Then 
our  success  was  marked. 

"  For  this  vast  work  we  want  funds.  This  is  the  centre 
from  which  operations  can  be  carried  on  in  all  directions, 
and,  unless  removed,  of  which  I  have  no  fear,  I  shall  prob 
ably  winter  here  and  urge  on  the  work.  All  government 
interference  with  the  slave,  except  to  put  him  in  the  army, 
demoralizes  him.  It  is  so  here  and  everywhere.  We  must 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

urge  the  government  to  enlist  as  many  as  they  can,  and 
let  the  rest  alone.  To  remove  them  from  their  homes  is 
the  worst  policy.  I  am  taking  the  able  men,  and  leaving 
the  old  men,  women  and  children.  The  latter  will  be 
wanted  for  labor,  and  will  be  well  treated,  because  they 
will  run  off  if  they  are  badly  treated.  Next  spring  there 
will  be  a  demand  for  labor  on  the  farms  and  they  will  be 
paid,  because  others  will  hire  and  pay  them  if  the  owners 
do  not  pay  them." 

On  January  8  Major  Stearns  would  be  fifty-five 
years  old,  and  yet  he  was  doing  the  work  of  a 
young  man.  Typewriting  had  not  been  invented, 
and  he  wrote  all  his  letters  with  his  own  hand. 
One  evening  he  wrote  to  his  wife :  "It  is  now 
half  past  nine  and  my  work  for  the  day  is  over." 
Twenty  pages  of  letter  paper  would  be  a  fair 
average  for  his  day's  labor;  and  besides  this  he 
was  obliged  to  attend  personally  to  inumerable 
details,  which  were  constantly  interfering  with 
more  important  affairs.  Serious  questions  concern 
ing  the  rights  and  legal  position  of  the  freedmen 
were  continually  arising  and  these  required  a 
cool  head  and  a  clear  understanding  for  their 
solution.  His  position  at  this  time  was  fully 
as  difficult  and  important  as  was  that  of  the 
governors  of  the  states  of  Ohio  and  New 
York. 

Edward  Bartlett,  of  Concord,  Mass.,  who  was 
one  of  his  staff  in  Nashville,  said  afterwards  that 
he  never  saw  a  man  who  could  despatch  so  much 
business  in  a  day  as  George  L.  Stearns.  He  writes  : 
"  I  shall  never  forget  the  fine  appearance  of  the 
first  regiment  we  sent  off.  They  were  all  picked 
men,  and  felt  a  just  pride  in  wearing  the  blue. 

312 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

As  fast  as  we  obtained  enough  recruits  they  were 
formed  into  regiments,  officered,  and  sent  to  the 
front.  When  men  became  scarce  in  the  city  we 
made  trips  into  the  country,  often  going  beyond  the 
Union  picket  line,  and  generally  reaping  a  harvest 
of  slaves.  These  expeditions  brought  an  element 
of  danger  into  our  lives,  for  our  forage  parties 
were  fired  into  by  the  enemy  more  than  once ;  but 
we  always  succeeded  in  bringing  back  our  men 
with  us.  The  black  regiments  did  valuable  service 
for  the  Union,  leaving  their  dead  on  many  a 
Southern  battle-field.  Mr.  Stearns  was  a  noble 
man,  courteous,  with  great  executive  ability,  and 
grandly  fitted  for  the  work  he  was  engaged  in." 

All  this  time  Major  Stearns  was  managing  his 
affairs  in  Boston  by  letter  and  telegraph.  He  had 
advanced  his  chief  clerk,  William  J.  Bride,  to  a 
limited  partnership  in  order  to  expedite  matters 
with  greater  facility;  and  although  Mr.  Bride 
deserved  this  it  afterwards  resulted  in  serious  con 
sequences  to  his  family,  which  would  not  have 
happened  but  for  Mr.  Stearns'  public  services. 

He  made  good  solid  friends  in  Nashville; 
men  like  Dr.  Bowen,  afterwards  United  States 
senator,  who  had  read  Plato  and  Emerson, — 
staunch  Union  men,  who  hated  slavery  and  while 
they  groaned  over  the  calamities,  which  had  be 
fallen  the  Southern  states,  looked  upon  them  as 
the  just  retribution  for  a  vicious  condition  of 
society.  They  assured  Major  Stearns  that  in  all 
the  large  southern  cities  there  were  men  who  held 
similar  views,  but  they  were  in  a  small  minority 
and  did  not  dare  to  speak  their  minds. 

313 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

He  wrote  again  to  John  M.  Forbes  on  October 
18: 

"  Yours  of  the  nth  is  at  hand.  I  don't  wonder  that  you 
feel  discouraged  from  your  point  of  view,  but  let  me  tell 
you  that  the  President,  while  apparently  taking  one  step 
back,  really  takes  two  forward ;  as  you  will  see  by  the  order 
enclosed  for  your  private  use.  If  you  have  time  to  read  all 
the  letters  I  have  sent  to  Mr.  Wellman,  you  will  understand 
some  of  the  difficulties  I  have  had  to  remove.  There  were 
others,  which,  as  I  could  not  make  you  understand  unless 
you  were  here,  I  have  not  reported.  All  are  now  out  of 
my  way  and  the  track  clear.  Let  me  sketch  to  you  the 
policy  of  the  leading  slaveholding  Union  men  of  this  state. 
They  see  clearly  that  their  political  and  social  existence 
here  depends  on  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  control  of 
the  state  by  the  Union  men.  Therefore  they  have  entered 
most  heartily  into  my  plans  for  the  organization  of  colored 
regiments  and  are  daily  in  consultation  with  me. 

********** 

"  Urge  the  government  to  repeal  all  laws  that  create  a 
distinction  between  the  colored  and  white  soldier,  full  pay 
being  as  necessary  to  enable  the  former  to  support  his 
family  as  it  is  to  the  latter ;  to  continue  the  present  military 
government  of  this  state  until  the  change  of  public  sentiment 
will  enable  them  to  control  it.  This  control  will  be  neces 
sary  if  the  state  is  declared  a  territory,  and  therefore  noth 
ing  will  be  gained  by  such  action,  while  it  will  shock  the 
feeling  of  those  who  having  fought  for  the  perpetuity  of  the 
Union  would  find  it  virtually  dissolved." 

Unfortunately  Mr.  Forbes  did  not  preserve  the 
copy  of  President  Lincoln's  order,  which  would  be 
valuable  to  us  now  as  evidence  in  regard  to  the 
character  of  that  remarkable  man.  The  national 
government  waxed  hot  and  cold  in  regard  to  the 
colored  regiments  according  to  circumstances. 
After  the  defeat  at  Chickamauga  Major  Stearns 

314 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

was  warmly  supported  and  encouraged  in  his 
work,  but  after  General  Bragg  had  been  defeated 
and  driven  over  the  mountains,  the  government 
relaxed  its  efforts  again. 

A  young  Ohio  officer,  General  James  A.  Gar- 
field,  was  attached  to  General  Rosecrans'  staff 
at  the  time  of  Chickamauga,  and  being  relieved 
from  active  service  by  Rosecrans'  retirement,  he 
came  to  Nashville  and  made  Major  Stearns' 
acquaintance  there.  They  became  warm  friends, 
and  when  the  Major  was  in  Washington  the  fol 
lowing  winter,  Garfield  introduced  a  bill  in  Con 
gress  at  his  instance  to  ameliorate  the  legal 
position  of  colored  soldiers.  Major  Stearns  saw 
much  of  Garfield  during  the  two  succeeding 
winters,  and  always  esteemed  him  as  the  most 
high-minded,  liberal,  judicious,  and  altogether 
satisfactory  person  in  the  House  of  Represent 
atives. 

Amos  A.  Lawrence  was  as  active  and  helpful 
now  as  in  the  early  Kansas  struggle, — before  he 
became  alarmed  at  the  revolutionary  apparition; 
but  at  this  time  and  during  the  next  two  years  John 
M.  Forbes  was  Mr.  Stearns'  most  efficient  co- 
worker.  It  may  have  been  at  the  time  the  recruit 
ing  fund  was  raised  that  Major  Stearns  brought 
him  a  subscription  list  which  he  had  headed  him 
self  with  two  thousand  dollars.  Mr.  Forbes  drew 
his  pen  through  the  figure  two,  saying :  "  You  are 
not  going  to  do  that,  Stearns.  If  any  one  gives 
two  thousand  dollars  I  shall  do  it,  and  not  you." 
He  was  now  in  Washington  and  had  very  consid 
erately  written  to  know  if  he  could  serve  Major 

315 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

Stearns  there,  or  the  good  cause  in  any  manner. 
Major  Stearns  replied: 

"Your  favor  of  the  nth  is  at  hand.  Having  got  through 
(thank  God)  with  the  political  operations  of  this  depart 
ment,  I  am  now  quietly  pursuing  my  legitimate  business. 

"  I  have  to-day  started  three  regiments,  the  4th,  5th,  and 
6th,  of  this  department,  which  we  think  will  be  filled 
rapidly. 

"  Don't  want  anything  from  Mr.  Stanton,  except  per 
mission  to  go  home  for  a  few  days,  and  to  be  let  alone 
for  six  months.  If  I  get  that,  I  shall  be  happy. 

"A  letter  from  Dr.  Bowen  tells  me  he  has  left  Washing 
ton  for  Boston,  and  will  return  to  Washington  again.  You 
will  find  him  if  he  is  in  Washington  at  the  New  York  Times 
or  Cincinnati  Gazette  offices,  and  if  you  do  not  know  my 
friends  Whitelaw  Reid  of  the  Gazette,  and  Samuel  Wilke- 
son  of  the  Times,  use  this  as  a  letter  of  introduction." 

Under  date  of  November  22  the  Major  wrote  to 
his  wife : 

"  I  am  waiting  for  the  blessed  moment  to  arrive  when  I 
can  say  I  am  bound  for  home.  Not  hearing  from  the  War 
Department  I  telegraphed  Mr.  Stanton  yesterday,  '  Four 
regiments  filling  rapidly,  my  work  is  in  perfect  order.  I 
ask  leave  to  return  home  for  a  few  days.' 

"  I  hope  to  get  an  answer  to-morrow,  and  hurrah  for 
home  and  home  joys  and  comfort.  But  only  for  a  few 
days.  The  longer  I  remain  here,  I  am  more  convinced  that 
the  country  needs  all  the  help  her  citizens  can  give  to 
put  down  this  unholy  rebellion.  Burnside  is  in  a  dangerous 
position  and  we  fear  will  be  beaten  by  Longstreet  If  he 
is,  Kentucky  will  have  to  take  it,  and  the  war  be  prolonged. 
To  be  sure  it  would  be  a  pleasure  to  have  Kentucky  paid 
off  for  her  sordid  meanness,  but,  as  a  whole  it  would  be 
disastrous,  and  we  could  not  afford  to  pay  the  price." 

What  answer  Secretary  Stanton  made  to  Major 
Stearns'  request  is  uncertain.  He  did  not  return 

316 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

to  Boston  at  this  time,  but  four  weeks  later  went 
to  Washington  to  see  Stanton  himself.  Accidents 
always  happened  when  the  master  was  away,  and 
Mrs.  Stearns  was  entertained  at  Thanksgiving  by 
the  burning  of  the  gas-house,  caused  by  a  drunken 
Irishman  who  dropped  his  pipe  into  a  large  can 
of  oil.  Julian  Hawthorne,  who  was  then  a  fresh 
man  at  Harvard  College,  and  a  frequent  visitor 
at  Mr.  Stearns'  house,  distinguished  himself  in  his 
efforts  to  suppress  the  conflagration  and  prevent  it 
from  spreading  to  the  main  building.  The  story 
of  the  Montagues  and  Capulets  is  continually  being 
repeated  in  real  life;  and  Hawthorne's  son  always 
liked  the  Stearns  family,  while  Emerson's  son 
evidently  preferred  more  orthodox  society. 

The  battle  of  Chattanooga,  November  23,  may 
have  decided  Major  Stearns  to  remain  at  Washing 
ton.  All  the  wounded  were  brought  there  who 
could  be  transported,  and  among  them  was  a  hand 
some  colored  youth,  very  nearly  black,  named 
George  Williams,  now  widely  known  as  the  his 
torian  of  the  negro  race  in  America.  He  was 
placed  in  a  tobacco  warehouse;  a  close,  warm  and 
unfavorable  place  for  him  to  recover  in.  Major 
Stearns  heard  that  he  was  wounded,  sought  him 
out,  and  had  him  conveyed  to  a  more  comfortable 
lodging. 

The  greatest  difficulty  which  Major  Stearns 
found  in  persuading  the  colored  people  to  enlist 
was  the  fear  of  what  might  happen  to  them,  if  they 
were  captured  by  the  enemy.  They  fully  appre 
ciated  what  he  told  them,  that  this  was  the  golden 
opportunity  for  their  race,  but  a  large  portion  of 

317 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

them  were  afraid  that  they  would  be  burned  alive. 
This  did  not  happen,  so  far  as  we  know,  but  they 
were  often  treated  in  a  very  savage  manner,  not 
only  by  the  rebels,  but  by  proslavery  Union  offi 
cers  and  men.*  The  officers  of  colored  regiments 
were  heroic  men  indeed,  for  they  often  fared  worse 
than  the  private  soldiers.  Charles  Pollen,  the  archi 
tect  of  Mr.  Stearns'  house,  went  with  him  to  Ten 
nessee,  and  was  captured  there  by  the  Confederate 
cavalry.  He  was  compelled  to  run  all  day  by  the 
side  of  a  horse,  and  so  much  injured  by  over- 
exertion  that  he  died  a  few  years  later  of  paralysis. 
In  the  middle  of  December  Major  Stearns  wrote 
out  his  report  as  recruiting  commissioner,  includ 
ing  with  it  an  improved  plan  for  future  operations. 
He  then  started  for  Washington,  and  wrote  to  his 
wife  from  that  city,  December  17: 

"  I  arrived  here  at  I  P.M.  yesterday.  Thirteen  hours  from 
Philadelphia.  Thus  I  am  two  days  later  than  my  time. 

"  The  Secretary  received  me  kindly  and  seems  disposed  to 
let  me  take  my  own  time  to  return ;  but  I  shall  know  better 
to-morrow.  M.  C.s  are  anxious  for  information,  and  I 
was  busy  all  last  evening  with  them.  They  are  radical 
enough,  and  disposed  so  far  as  I  can  see  to  adopt  wise  and 
just  measures  for  the  advancement  of  the  negro.  I  shall 
leave  as  soon  as  possible  for  home,  but  fear  you  will  not 
see  me  until  Monday  or  Tuesday." 

On  the  1 8th  he  wrote  again: 

"  I  saw  Mr.  Stanton  yesterday.  He  asked  me  if  I  was 
satisfied.  I  said  '  Yes.'  He  replied :  '  Well,  I  am  satisfied 
if  you  are.' 

*  Some  of  them  were  massacred  in  this  manner  in  the 
crater  mine  at  Petersburg. 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

"  My  report  requires  more  time  than  I  expected,  for  it 
naturally  extends  to  the  entire  policy  of  our  government 
for  the  Southern  States.  Our  friends  here  want  to  do  all 
they  can  for  the  negroes,  and  are  anxious  for  information. 
This  will  keep  me  a  day  or  two  longer  than  I  intended. 

"  Per  contra  Mr.  Stanton  allows  me  to  take  my  own  time 
for  returning." 

The  last  sentence  is  printed  in  italics  on  account 
of  its  importance;  for  it  places  Secretary  Stanton 
in  a  self-contradictory  position  in  regard  to  his 
attitude  toward  Major  Stearns  three  weeks  later. 
At  this  time  he  was  as  friendly  and  amiable  as 
could  be  desired. 

Major  Stearns  had  left  Captain  R.  D.  Mussey 
in  charge  of  his  affairs  at  Nashville,  an  excellent 
man  and  true  friend  to  the  cause,  who  wrote  to 
him  on  the  24th : 

"  Mr.  McKim  has  been  gathering  various  facts  about  the 
colored  population  here  from  conversations  with  them  in 
my  room,  and  from  such  slight  visits  out  as  his  cold  will 
permit. 

"  I  was  very  much  pleased  to  receive  your  letter  of  the 
i8th  this  evening.  I  most  devoutly  hope  that  the  Secretary 
will  give  you  the  authority  desired." 

It  is  plainly  apparent  from  this  extract  that 
Major  Stearns'  subordinates  considered  the  rec 
ommendations  in  his  report  essential  to  the  con 
tinued  prosecution  of  the  work. 

On  the  same  day  Major  Stearns  wrote  to 
Thomas  D.  Eliot,  member  of  Congress  from  New 
Bedford : 

"  The  negroes  can  take  care  of  themselves  if  protected  in 
their  rights. 

319 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

"Colonel  Littlefield  says:  'The  negro  Is  fully  capable  of 
taking  care  of  himself.  The  soldiers  of  negro  regiments 
will  save  more  of  their  money  than  white  soldiers.'  I  have 
never  seen  a  negro  soldier  drunk;  from  what  I  have  seen 
of  them  in  Nashville,  I  fully  concur  with  the  opinions 
expressed." 

On  Christmas  morning  Major  Stearns  reached 
his  home  before  his  family  had  assembled  for 
breakfast. 


320 


MAJOR   GEORGE   L.   STEARNS 


XX 

MAJOR  STEARNS  RESIGNS 

GEORGE  L.  STEARNS  brought  no  Christmas 
presents  with  him,  but  his  own  presence  was  the 
best  Christmas  gift  that  his  family  could  have 
received.  It  was  pathetic  to  see  them  cling  to 
him,  as  if  they  intended  never  to  let  him  go  from 
them  again.  How  many  thousands  of  such  meet 
ings  there  were  in  those  heroic  times,  and  what 
poet  or  painter  has  ever  done  them  justice ! 

Major  Stearns  remained  two  weeks  in  Boston 
attending  to  his  private  business,  and  discussing 
public  affairs  with  Amos  A.  Lawrence,  John  M. 
Forbes,  and  others.  He  served  as  a  useful  media 
tor  between  these  practical  business  men  and  the 
professional  politicians.  On  the  8th  of  January, 
his  fifty-fifth  birthday,  he  again  reached  Washing 
ton,  and  called  the  next  day  on  the  secretary  of 
war;  but  Mr.  Stanton  was  too  busy  to  see  him. 
The  same  thing  happened  three  days  in  succession. 
On  the  fifth  day  he  went  to  Mr.  Colfax's  reception, 
and  in  the  anteroom  met  Mr.  Stanton.  To  Major 
Stearns'  "  Good  evening,"  he  replied  in  a  gruff 
tone :  "  When  are  you  going  to  Tennessee  ?  " 
Major  Stearns  replied,  "  As  soon  as  I  have  had 
a  conference  with  you."  "  Call  on  me  to-morrow," 
he  said,  "  and  I  will  try  and  find  time  to  talk  with 
you." 

21  321 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

Major  Stearns  agreed  to  do  so,  but  the  next 
morning  wrote  to  his  wife : 

"A  pleasant  party  made  me  forget  it  for  the  time,  and 
I  enjoyed  myself;  but  returning  to  my  room  I  passed  a 
sleepless  night.  All  his  past  roughness,  and  want  of  con 
sideration  came  up,  and  was  revived  again  and  again.  I 
do  not  care  for  his  haughty  manner.  But  to  be  obliged  to 
watch  and  wait  the  temper  of  a  man,  who  would  not  be 
tolerated  in  any  decent  society,  if  he  behaved  as  he  does  to 
those  under  his  authority,  I  cannot  and  will  not.  Besides 
I  think  I  can  do  as  much  good  in  a  private  way  as  in  this ; 
much  more  to  my  comfort  and  satisfaction. 

"  What  will  come  of  it  I  don't  know.  I  do  not  think 
he  will  make  any  concessions  and  do  not  desire  he  shall, 
for  now  my  sense  of  duty  is  satisfied.  I  have  no  desire  to 
continue  in  public  life." 

The  same  day  he  sent  in  his  resignation  to  the 
secretary  of  war,  saying  in  it: 

"  Entering  the  service  at  your  request  and  from  an  ardent 
desire  to  serve  our  country  in  this  war,  I  declined  all  com 
pensations  for  my  services,  and  have  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  in  all  the  business  intrusted  to  my  care,  no 
error,  indiscretion,  or  neglect  of  mine  has  caused  loss  to  the 
service." 

The  secretary  of  war  replied  on  the  same  day: 

"SIR: 

"  Your  note  of  yesterday  tendering  your  resignation  has 
been  received.  Although  I  very  much  regret  that  the 
Department  will  lose  the  benefit  of  your  efficient  services  in 
the  important  field  to  which  you  have  been  assigned,  I 
am  conscious  that  the  pay  is  inadequate,  and  that  the  sacri 
fice  on  your  part  is  so  great,  that  I  have  no  right  to  insist 
on  your  remaining  in  service  any  longer  than  is  perfectly 
agreeable  to  yourself. 

322 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

"Thankful  for  the  aid  you  have  rendered,  I  shall  always 
be  happy  to  serve  you. 

"  Yours  truly, 

"  WAR  DEPARTMENT,  "  EDWIN  M.  STANTON, 

"  WASHINGTON  CITY."  "  Secretary  of   War." 

The  sense  of  honor,  which  makes  the  school-boy 
fight  when  he  feels  himself  ill-treated,  lays  the 
foundation  of  manliness  in  his  character.  Much 
has  been  said  of  late  in  disparagement  of  the  sense 
of  honor,  both  national  and  individual ;  but  it  should 
be  remembered  that  without  this,  and  its  belliger 
ent  consequences,  the  United  States  of  America 
would  not  now  exist.  If  George  L.  Stearns  had  not 
been  a  fighter,  he  could  not  have  raised  his  family 
from  the  depressed  condition  in  which  it  was  left 
by  his  father's  death.  In  the  interview  at  Speaker 
Colfax's  reception,  Secretary  Stanton  bordered 
closely  on  a  breach  of  military  etiquette.  On  a 
somewhat  similar  occasion  when  a  high  Prussian 
official  attempted  to  domineer  over  the  youthful 
Bismarck,  the  latter  said  to  him :  "  I  want  you  to 
understand,  sir,  that  in  polite  society,  Herr  von 
Bismarck  is  as  good  as  Herr  von  anybody  else ;  " 
and  if  Major  Stearns  had  replied  to  Secretary 
Stanton :  "  Sir,  this  is  a  meeting  of  gentlemen," 
he  would  have  been  commended  by  all  who  heard 
him.  It  was  not  without  reason  that  he  passed 
a  sleepless  night,  and  the  next  day  he  took  his 
resolution  with  firmness  and  good  judgment. 

He  had  already  found  difficulties  enough  in 
dealing  with  the  War  Department,  and  now  that 
the  secretary  had  become  unfriendly  to  him,  his 
position  would  be  simply  unendurable.  What  had 

323 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

caused  Secretary  Stanton's  change  of  front?  The 
secretary  knew  very  well  that  Major  Stearns  was 
not  needed  in  Nashville,  and  the  best  proof  of  this 
is  that  after  his  retirement  he  retained  Captain 
Mussey  in  command  there.  Major  Stearns  had 
constructed  a  recruiting  machine,  which  like  his 
lead  business  would  almost  run  of  itself.  He  had 
set  the  wheel  to  rolling  and  a  slight  touch  was  all 
that  was  necessary  to  guide  it.  There  was  no 
reason  why  Major  Stearns  should  return  to  Ten 
nessee,  unless  he  could  carry  on  his  business  there 
on  a  larger  scale. 

It  is  possible  that  Mr.  Stanton  may  have  had  a 
confused  idea  in  his  mind  that  Major  Stearns  was 
neglecting  his  duties  by  a  too  prolonged  absence 
from  headquarters;  but  if  this  was  the  case,  why 
did  he  not  notify  him  to  that  effect  in  the  regular 
way  ?  No :  it  was  evidently  the  recommendations 
in  Major  Stearns'  report  that  had  caused  the  sec 
retary  of  war  to  change  his  tone.  Mr.  Stearns 
always  wished  to  do  what  he  undertook  on  the 
largest  possible  scale ;  and  he  had  a  plan  of  organiz 
ing  sixty  or  seventy  colored  regiments  to  be  placed 
under  the  command  of  an  antislavery  general.  He 
wished  to  organize  the  labor  of  the  freedmen  on 
a  definite  basis,  and  under  government  protection, 
so  that  they  should  no  longer  be  left  to  the  mercy 
of  greedy  contractors  and  to  the  despotism  of  sub 
ordinate  commanders.  How  important  this  was 
may  be  judged  from  the  following  extract,  which 
he  afterward  published : 

"The  Government  has  not  kept  its  faith  with  the  colored 
man  anywhere.     When  I  went  to  Nashville,  colored  men, 

324 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

free  and  slave  were  hunted  daily  through  the  streets,  and 
impressed  for  labor  on  fortifications,  railroads,  and  in 
hospitals,  and  although  promised  ten  dollars  per  month, 
it  was  rarely  paid,  and  many  of  them  worked  twelve  to 
fifteen  months  without  any  pay. 

"  Let  me  give  you  one  case  of  several  that  came  under 
my  notice.  When  our  army  occupied  Nashville,  in  August, 
1862,  calls  were  made  for  slaves  to  work  on  the  fortifica 
tions.  About  twenty-seven  hundred  were  employed.  A 
large  number  ran  from  their  masters.  Many  Union  men  sent 
their  best  hands,  and  some  were  impressed.  These  men 
working  in  the  heat  of  the  autumn  months,  lying  on  the 
hillside  at  night  in  the  heavy  dews  without  shelter,  and  fed 
with  poor  food,  soon  sickened.  In  four  months  about  eight 
hundred  of  them  died ;  the  remainder  were  kept  at  work 
from  six  to  fifteen  months  without  pay.  Then  all  who 
were  able-bodied  were  forcibly  enlisted  in  the  Twelfth 
United  States  colored  troops.  Many  of  them  had  families 
who  were  destitute  of  the  necessaries  of  life." 

Such  pitiless  expositions  could  not  have  been 
pleasant  at  the  war-office,  although  Stanton  him 
self  could  hardly  be  held  responsible  for  them. 
"  The  contract  system,"  wrote  Napoleon  to  his 
brother  Joseph,  "  makes  nothing  but  thieves ;  "  and 
it  probably  caused  the  death  of  more  Union  sol 
diers  than  were  killed  on  all  the  battle-fields. 
Major  Stearns'  plan  included  a  general  social  reor 
ganization  of  the  Southern  states,  and  for  that 
the  administration  was  not  prepared. 

In  answer  to  a  letter  of  inquiry  from  Rev. 
Samuel  Johnson  concerning  this  affair,  Mr.  Stearns 
stated : 

"  Mr.  Stanton  did  not  treat  me  worse  than  he  does  others, 
but,  the  want  of  co-operation  on  his  part,  and  the  absence 
of  that  tone  that  makes  intercourse  between  gentlemen 

325 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

satisfactory,    determined   me   not  to    continue   longer  as   a 
government  official." 

Major  Stearns  was  now  in  fighting  trim;  and 
he  would  seem  to  have  had  some  difficulty  with 
Senator  Wilson.  He  wrote  to  his  wife  January 
23,  1864: 

"  I  believe  I  wrote  you  that  Senator  Wilson  had  behaved 
badly  to  me.  I  wrote  him  a  sharp  letter,  and  he  made  so 
full  and  free  amends,  saying  he  was  very  sorry  as  soon  as 
he  had  said  it,  that  I  at  once  resumed  my  old  relations 
with  him. 

"  The  political  complications  here  are  most  subtle :  No  one 
knows  where  he  is  or  who,  or  what  statement  to  depend 
on.  Unless  you  can  divine  the  past  of  a  man  you  cannot 
tell  his  motives  of  action,  or  whether  he  is  deceived  by 
others.  President,  Cabinet,  M  C.s,  Senators,  all  are  alike. 
There  is  no  safe  place  but  outside,  with  nothing  to  ask,  and 
nothing  to  give. 

"  The  next  battle  appears  to  be  coming  between  Lincoln 
and  Chase.  Fremont  is  said  to  be  working  underhand  for 
Butler;  so  the  latter  may  be  in  the  ring,  but  I  think  not. 
Wilson  says  the  whole  government  is  so  mean  that  it  would 
go  to  pieces  were  it  not  for  the  great  cause  that  underlies 
and  props  it  up.  This  is  true.  We  must  trust  in  God,  and 
the  great  heart  of  our  people  that  never  goes  far  wrong. 

"  I  am  writing  in  my  parlor,  the  windows  open,  and  the 
bright  sun  making  everything  cheerful;  but  my  thoughts 
are  sad;  for  Washington  is  gay  while  the  country  mourns, 
and  I  feel  as  if  men  high  in  power  were  dancing  over  the 
graves  of  our  slaughtered  heroes.  I  try  to  get  away  from 
it,  but  my  thoughts  like  a  bent  bow,  spring  back  to  their 
normal  condition;  for  the  distress  of  the  country  has 
become  normal  with  me  and  I  can  think  of  nothing  else. 

"  This  is  wrong,  I  know.  The  good  God  still  watches 
over  us,  is  guiding  our  footsteps  through  '  the  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death/  and  will  bring  us  out,  tho'  with  much 
tribulation." 

326 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Major  Stearns  may  be  excused  for  feeling  some 
what  misanthropic  at  this  stage  of  affairs;  but 
Senator  Wilson's  statement  is  memorable,  and 
evidently  refers  to  the  treatment  of  the  colored 
soldiers. 

Two  days  later  the  Major  wrote  again : 

"  G.  W.  Smalley  says  Greeley  is  getting  more  aggressive, 
and  disposed  once  more  to  take  the  lead.  He  told  us  that 
through  Edmund  Kirke  the  negroes  had  communicated  last 
August,  a  plan  for  a  general  insurrection,  to  be  aided  by 
our  armies,  and  five  of  our  commanders  had  promised  to  aid 
it,  but  Lincoln  refused  on  the  ground  that  a  servile  insur 
rection  would  give  a  pretext  for  foreign  intervention.  He 
also  said  that  Lincoln  had  pardoned  a  notorious  rebel  who 
assassinated  a  New  York  soldier,  and  that  there  is  great 
indignation  about  it  here." 

He  was  in  Cincinnati  on  the  2Oth  and  wrote : 

"  In  the  cars  we  met  Brady,  the  photographer.  Phillips 
introduced  me,  and  he  asked  for  my  picture,  which  I 
promised  on  my  return.  As  he  wants  it  for  his  gallery 
it  will  be  well  done,  and  then  I  will  get  some  extra  copies 
for  you. 

"  Brooks  of  the  Express  gives  up  slavery ;  says  it  is  dead, 
and  he  will  not  contend  against  it.  Another  sign  of  demo 
cratic  reaction.  The  New  York  Herald  complains  that  Phil 
lips  stands  on  its  platform,  and  here  I  learn  there  is  a 
plan  for  a  radical  democratic  party. 

"  On  my  way  I  have  again  gone  over  all  the  past  year, 
both  before  and  since  my  connection  with  Mr.  Stanton.  I 
can  see  how  it  might  have  come  to  a  different  result  if  I 
could  have  had  his  confidence,  but  that  was  impossible. 
Everywhere  I  find  men  who  were  immediately  placed  in  a 
false  position  with  him,  and  those  who  had  no  favors  to 
ask  have  seldom  approached  him  again.  This  is  very  sig 
nificant.  He  is  not  like  Seward  and  Chase." 

Brady's  photographic  gallery  contained  nearly 
327 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

all  the  celebrities  in  the  country,  but  Major  Stearns 
cared  so  little  for  this,  that  although  he  passed 
through  New  York  City  again  and  again,  it  is 
doubtful  if  he  remembered  either  Brady  or  his 
photographs. 

From  Louisville  he  wrote  to  Mrs.  Stearns,  Feb 
ruary  27: 

"  You  did  right  to  give  $50  to  the  draft  fund.  One  advan 
tage  we  shall  get  from  the  call  of  500,000  men  is  that  Ken 
tucky  is  now  forced  to  send  her  proportion  and  can  only 
do  it  by  giving  a  portion  of  her  slaves.  '  All  things  work 
together  for  good  to  those  who  believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ/  And  don't  we  believe  in  his  principles? 

"  My  affairs  here  are  in  the  best  condition,  and  will  be 
easily  closed;  but  I  fear  I  have  been  hasty  in  setting  Tues 
day  next  as  the  day  of  my  departure. 

"  Yesterday  in  the  cars  the  Missouri  delegation  sang  the 
John  Brown  song.  One  proposed  that  they  should  serenade 
Prentiss  with  it  to-morrow  night.  How  it  would  startle  the 
people  of  this  proud  city  to  hear  it  sung  in  the  stillness 
of  night.  I  mean  to  try  and  have  it  done.  It  would  be  a 
good  joke  at  least." 

The  next  letter  is  dated  Nashville,  March  4, 
and  he  says  in  it : 

"Although  the  delay  is  painful  to  me,  and  more  than 
that  to  you,  yet  I  am  engaged  in  most  important  duty  which 
I  trust  either  here  or  at  Washington  will  result  in  stopping 
the  abuse  of  colored  men. 

"  I  am  going  this  morning  to  General  Grant  to  have  a 
talk  with  him,  and  hope  he  will  do  what  Secretary  Stanton 
ought  to  have  done  long  ago.  I  want  an  order  securing 
to  colored  troops  the  same  treatment  that  is  accorded  to  the 
white  troops." 

No  record  of  this  interview  with  Grant  has  been 
discovered,  but  after  Mr.  Stearns  returned  to 

328 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Boston  two  weeks  later,  he  stated  that  Grant  agreed 
with  him  cordially  in  regard  to  the  colored  regi 
ments,  and  promised  that  the  abuses  complained 
of  should  be  remedied  so  far  as  he  had  power  to 
do  it.  He  said  that  Grant  was  the  most  direct  and 
decisive  person  that  he  had  become  acquainted 
with  in  the  government. 

The  only  recognition  that  Major  Stearns  re 
ceived  for  his  exceptional  services  was  an  invitation 
to  dine  with  the  Atlantic  Club,  which  we  may  sup 
pose  was  suggested  by  Emerson.  What  he  noticed 
on  that  occasion  was  that  those  literary  celebrities 
seemed  to  be  much  more  interested  in  politics  than 
in  their  own  profession;  although  their  ideas  on 
that  subject  were  more  theoretical  than  practical. 
Feeling  very  modest  in  such  fine  company,  he  said 
little  at  first,  but  when  Longfellow  questioned  him 
in  regard  to  the  antagonism  between  Congress  and 
the  Executive  it  soon  became  apparent  how  much 
more  he  knew  concerning  Washington  affairs  than 
the  rest  of  them,  and  after  this  he  became  the  centre 
of  conversation, — though  he  also  perceived  that 
there  were  those  present  who  did  not  like  to  believe 
what  he  said. 

Mr.  Stearns  was  now  a  civilian  again,  and  was 
very  glad  to  escape  from  his  uniform ;  but  the  title 
of  Major  still  adhered  to  him,  and  he  was  never 
able  to  shake  it  off,  much  as  he  would  like  to  have 
escaped  from  that  also. 

He  kept  so  quiet  about  the  interview  at  Colfax's 
reception,  that  it  did  not  find  its  way  into  the  news 
papers  until  the  last  of  April.  Then  he  was  imme 
diately  attacked  for  it  in  the  Antislavery  Standard, 

329 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

— the  last  place  that  one  might  have  expected.    The 
writer,  who  was  an  old  Garrisonian,*  said : 

"  Am  I  not  sorry  that  he  has  resigned  ?  I  should  be  if  I 
were  not  certain  that  the  work  can  now  go  on  without  him ; 
but  I  tell  you  what  I  am  sorry  for;  I  am  sorry  that  the 
Major's  friends  have  given  newspaper  publicity  to  his 
reason  for  resigning." 

There  was  a  malignant  spirit  in  this,  an  attempt 
to  underrate  Mr.  Stearns'  services,  which  was  more 
than  he  could  brook.  He  replied  to  it  in  a  lengthy 
statement,  in  which  he  reviewed  the  whole  subject 
of  negro  recruiting.  He  said : 

"  The  reason  why  we  have  so  few  colored  men  in  our 
army  to-day  is,  because  they  have  been  treated  unfairly ; 
and  so  far  as  I  know,  nearly  all  representations  of  these 
abuses  have  been  allowed  to  pass  unheeded.  We  might 
have  had  two  hundred  thousand  colored  men  in  our  army 
to-day,  if  they  had  been  dealt  with  in  good  faith  and  treated 
properly. 

"  The  War  Department  commenced  recruiting  negroes 
as  soldiers  in  Massachusetts,  Hilton  Head,  and  New  Orleans, 
with  the  promise  of  the  same  pay,  clothing,  and  treatment, 
as  to  white  soldiers ;  and  when  I  was  commissioned  to 
recruit,  that  understanding  prevailed  throughout  the  country. 
I  commenced  recruiting  colored  men  for  the  Government 
in  Philadelphia  on  these  terms,  and  when  I  accidentally 
learned  at  the  War  Department,  that  a  decision  had  been 
made  some  time  before  to  pay  but  ten  dollars  per  month, 
without  clothing,  I  was  obliged  to  discharge  all  my  recruits 
and  commence  anew. 

"  Of  the  Fifty-fourth  and  Fifty-fifth  Massachusetts,  I 
recruited  thirteen  hundred  men,  who  were  induced  to  leave 
Pennsylvania  and  the  West,  because  they  were  to  enter 
the  service  on  the  same  terms  as  white  soldiers.  It  was 

*  J.  Miller  McKim. 
330 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

not  a  question  of  pay,  but  of  equality.  They  believed,  and 
had  a  right  to  believe  the  representations  made  to  them, 
and  the  Government  was  bound  in  honor  either  to  comply 
with  or  abrogate  the  whole  contract ;  but  it  stood  by  silently, 
allowed  the  fraud  to  go  on,  then  repudiated  the  promises 
of  its  agents,  but  kept  the  men." 

A  good  majority,  however,  of  the  old  abolition 
ists  rallied  to  Mr.  Stearns'  support,  and  his  ill- 
natured  critic  was  placed  in  the  vocative.  It  only 
remains  to  be  noticed  that  his  successor  at  Nash 
ville,  Captain  Mussey,  was  soon  promoted  to  be  a 
brigadier-general,  and  that  Mr.  Stearns'  appoint 
ment  in  June,  1863,  was  never  sent  to  the  Senate 
for  confirmation  till  1868. 

His  resignation  came  at  the  right  moment,  and 
the  manner  in  which  it  happened  is  of  small  conse 
quence  now.  He  had  started  the  movement,  and 
given  it  such  an  impetus  that  men  of  moderate 
ability  could  still  carry  it  forward.  The  import 
ance  of  his  work  cannot  easily  be  measured.  With 
out  the  regiments  which  Major  Stearns  organ 
ised  at  Nashville,  General  Sherman's  march 
through  Georgia  would  not  have  been  possible.  It 
was  no  longer  easy  to  obtain  white  volunteers. 
With  a  population  ten  millions  less  than  that  of 
France,  the  Northern  states  were  maintaining  an 
army  much  larger  than  the  one  which  accompanied 
Napoleon  to  Moscow.  General  Thomas'  right 
wing,  at  the  battle  of  Nashville,  was  formed  almost 
entirely  of  colored  regiments.  They  were  ordered 
to  make  a  feint  attack  on  the  enemy,  in  order  to 
withdraw  attention  from  the  flanking  movement 
of  his  veterans  on  the  left ;  but  when  the  charge  had 

33i 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

once  begun  their  officers  were  unable  to  keep  them 
in  check,  the  feint  was  changed  into  a  real  attack 
and  contributed  largely  to  the  most  decisive  victory 
of  the  whole  war. 

FOUNDING  THE  NATION 

The  war-spirit  made  strange  comrades,  some 
times.  In  1864  Charles  W.  Slack  and  a  committee 
of  Theodore  Parker's  Society  called  on  Rev.  Jacob 
M.  Manning  of  the  Old  South  Church,  and  invited 
him  to  become  the  pastor  of  their  society.  His 
reply  was :  "  You  know  not  what  you  ask."  They 
agreed  on  the  slavery  question  and  the  radical 
difference  between  Parker  and  Manning  on  relig 
ious  subjects  did  not  occur  to  Mr.  Slack  and  his 
friends.  It  was  in  some  such  way  that  George  L. 
Stearns  became  associated  with  Charles  Eliot  Nor 
ton  and  J.  Miller  McKim  in  founding  the  New 
York  Nation.  Mr.  Stearns'  object  was,  of  course, 
to  obtain  a  newspaper  that  would  take  elevated 
views  of  political  subjects,  and  especially  advocate 
liberal  and  unprejudiced  legislation  for  the  benefit 
of  the  freedmen.  He  urged  this  to  his  coadjutors 
with  his  customary  frankness,  and  they  permitted 
him  to  suppose  that  they  agreed  with  him. 

However,  if  any  doubts  existed  on  this  point  in 
the  minds  of  Norton  and  McKim  they  must  have 
been  dissipated  by  the  circular  which  was  issued 
to  the  stockholders  by  the  committee  duly  appointed 
for  the  purpose.  The  second  proposition  in  this 
circular  reads  as  follows: 

"The  earnest  and  persistent  consideration  of  the  condi 
tion  of  the  colored  race  at  the  South,  as  a  matter  of  vital 

332 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

interest  to  the  nation  at  large,  with  a  view  to  the  removal  of 
all  artificial  distinctions  between  them  and  the  rest  of  the 
population,  and  the  bestowal  on  them,  as  far  as  education, 
security,  and  justice  can  do  it,  of  an  equal  chance  in  the 
race  of  life." 

It  was  not  until  May,  1865,  that  a  sufficient 
amount  of  stock  was  subscribed  to  place  the  enter 
prise  on  a  sound  basis.  About  ninety  thousand 
dollars  was  raised,  of  which  Mr.  Stearns  contrib 
uted  one-seventh,  or  ten  thousand  dollars  more 
than  any  other  stockholder.  It  is  safe  to  presume 
that  without  his  assistance  the  Nation  would  never 
have  existed. 

Early  in  April,  1865,  I  met  R.  W.  Emerson  in 
the  railway  train  going  from  Concord  to  Boston, 
My  impression  is  that  he  came  into  the  car  after  I 
did  and  took  the  next  seat  to  me.  After  some 
inquiry  about  my  studies  he  said :  "  I  hear  that 
your  father  contemplates  a  newspaper  venture 
together  \vith  Mr.  Charles  Eliot  Norton.  I  said 
*  Yes/  that  it  was  true  he  did.  '  I  should  not 
think,'  he  continued,  *  that  Mr.  Norton  would  be 
quite  the  man  to  harmonize  with  your  father's 
ways  of  thinking  and  working.  He  is  industrious 
and  a  good  deal  interested  in  literary  matters. 
Mr.  Lowell  likes  him,  and  when  he  was  editor  of 
the  North  American  Review,  wished  to  have  him 
for  a  colleague/  '  Mr.  Emerson  then  said  a  good 
deal  more  about  Mr.  Norton,  which  I  do  not  recol 
lect,  and  ended  at  length  as  he  began  with  doubting 
if  he  and  my  father  could  permanently  agree. 

This  information  surprised  Mr.  Stearns  greatly, 
for  he  supposed  that  Mr.  Norton  agreed  with  him 

333 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

as  closely  as  Emerson  did  himself;  but  it  was  now 
too  late  to  profit  by  this  warning.  However,  Mr. 
Norton's  opinions  would  not  make  much  difference, 
if  the  right  editor  was  secured.  The  position  was 
first  offered  to  George  William  Curtis,  and  if  he 
had  accepted  it,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
result  would  have  been  satisfactory  and  harmonious 
to  all  concerned;  but  Mr.  Curtis  was  receiving 
ten  thousand  a  year  for  the  mediocre  business  of 
editing  an  illustrated  weekly,  and  felt  that  he  could 
not  surrender  it  for  an  uncertainty.  Mr.  Stearns 
then  proposed  Whitelaw  Reid,  who  was  warmly 
supported  by  Mr.  Forbes  and  accepted  by  the 
stockholders;  but  Mr.  Reid — to  Mr.  Stearns'  keen 
disappointment — also  declined.  He  considered  his 
health  precarious,  and  had  decided  to  try  his  for 
tune  as  a  cotton  planter  in  Louisiana. 

Then  Mr.  Norton  brought  forward  Edwin  L. 
Godkin,  whom  he  introducted  as  an  Englishman, 
as  a  writer  on  the  New  York  Times,  and  the  cor 
respondent  of  the  London  Daily  News.  Mr.  Nor 
ton  enlarged  on  the  advantage  of  his  early  training 
on  an  English  daily  newspaper;  but  Mr.  Stearns 
was  influenced  in  his  favor  by  the  fact  that  Mr. 
Godkin  had  written  a  biography  of  Kossuth,  which 
seemed  to  indicate  a  progressive  tendency  in  the 
man,  and  a  liking  for  liberal  ideas. 

Mr.  Godkin,  however,  was  really  the  son  of  an 
editor  in  Dublin,  and  thoroughly  Irish  by  educa 
tion  and  sympathy.  If  he  considered  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  an  Irishman,  he  must  have  considered 
himself  one.  On  the  concealment  of  this  fact 
depended  all  the  subsequent  trouble  which  Mr. 

334 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Steams  encountered  in  this  undertaking.  Three 
months  later  Mr.  Stearns  said :  "  If  I  had  known 
Mr.  Godkin  was  born  in  Ireland,  I  would  never 
have  accepted  him  for  an  editor." 

I  was  present  at  a  dinner  at  the  Brevoort  House 
in  New  York,  the  last  of  May,  1865,  to  which 
Mr.  Stearns  invited  Wendell  Phillips  and  E.  L. 
Godkin.  The  conversation  was  chiefly  concerning 
the  reconstruction  of  the  Southern  states  and  the 
political  position  of  the  negro  race  there,  and  Mr. 
Godkin  assented  substantially  to  everything  which 
Mr.  Stearns  proposed.  I  do  not  recollect  that 
negro  suffrage  was  brought  forward  on  that  occa 
sion,  but  Mr.  Godkin  certainly  agreed  that  there 
were  rights,  such  as  the  ownership  of  land,  to  testify 
in  court,  and  the  practice  of  the  liberal  professions, 
which  the  colored  people  did  not  then  possess  in 
the  Southern  states,  and  which  they  certainly 
ought  to  have.  It  was  a  most  harmonious  meeting. 
Mr.  Phillips  remarked  to  Mr.  Godkin  that  there 
would  be  no  one  on  the  Nation  who  could  give  an 
opinion  on  a  constitutional  amendment;  to  which 
Mr.  Godkin  replied  that  he  could  readily  obtain  one 
from  Joseph  Choate,  or  some  other  first  rate 
lawyer. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  in  1863  Mr.  Stearns 
raised  a  large  subscription  in  Boston  to  assist  our 
improvident  government  in  the  work  of  organizing 
colored  regiments.  After  Mr.  Stearns  had  resigned 
his  position  in  1864  about  one-third  of  this  sub 
scription  remained  unexpended,  and  at  a  meeting 
of  the  contributors  it  was  decided  to  leave  this 
sum  in  the  hands  of  the  committee  of  which  R.  P. 

335 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

Hallowell  was  treasurer,  with  permission  to  make 
use  of  it  in  the  line  of  the  original  purpose  for 
which  the  fund  was  raised. 

Mr.  Godkin  somehow  became  aware  of  this  fact, 
and  at  the  last  moment  sent  Wendell  P.  Garrison 
(who  was  to  be  assistant  editor  of  the  Nation)  to 
Boston  to  obtain  this  fund  on  the  ground  that  it 
could  not  be  better  employed  than  in  the  subscrip 
tion  to  a  periodical  that  was  intended  to  advocate 
the  removal  of  all  artificial  distinctions  between 
the  colored  people  and  the  rest  of  the  population  of 
the  South;  and  the  balance  of  the  recruiting  fund 
was  converted  into  stock  of  the  Nation  upon  this 
understanding. 

Emerson's  prediction  proved  to  be  true  enough. 
Godkin  did  not  wait  till  the  second  issue  of  his 
paper  before  throwing  off  his  mask.  The  first 
number  of  the  Nation  was  published  in  July,  1865, 
and  contained  a  cynical  attack  on  the  supporters  of 
civil  rights  for  the  colored  people,  which  included, 
besides  Mr.  Stearns  and  the  whole  Massachusetts 
delegation  in  Congress,  a  majority  of  the  stock 
holders  of  the  paper.  Names  were  not  mentioned, 
but  the  opposition  was  no  less  pronounced  and 
incisive.  William  Lloyd  Garrison  spoke  of  it  in  my 
presence  as  "  the  objectionable  paragraph  " ;  and  it 
was  estimated  to  have  cost  the  Nation  a  thousand 
subscribers.  Remonstrances  to  Godkin  were  of  no 
avail,  and  Charles  Eliot  Norton  supported  him  in 
a  course  which  had  neither  legal  nor  moral  justifica 
tion.  An  article  shortly  appeared  in  the  Nation, 
written  by  an  old  pro-slavery  Harvard  professor, 
on  the  rights  of  belligerents — intended  for  the 

336 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

benefit  of  the  states  recently  in  rebellion;  and  in 
August  Senator  Sumner  wrote  to  Major  Stearns: 

"  Has  not  the  time  come  to  launch  your  letter  to  the 
President?  Blow  upon  blow — line  upon  line — precept  upon 
precept;  this  is  the  rule. 

"  Meanwhile  suspend  the  Nation.  It  does  more  hurt 
than  good.  Is  there  a  single  person  that  it  has  inspired — 
strengthened  or  instructed  in  the  good  cause.  Not  one. 
But  it  has  given  help  to  the  other  side — in  every  number. 
An  argument  to  show  that  Equality  is  not  essential  to  the 
Republican  idea  is  in  the  worst  vein  of  copper-headism. 
How  long?  Oh!  How  long? 

"  CHARLES   SUMNER." 

Major  Stearns  was  not  the  man  to  endure  this 
with  impunity.  I  can  bear  witness  that  for  more 
than  six  months  he  tried  every  method  of  concilia 
tion;  but  Godkin  continued  to  be  Godkin,  and 
Norton  supported  him.  Then  Mr.  Stearns  deter 
mined  to  fight.  A  majority  of  the  stockholders 
had  always  been  on  his  side,  and  by  instituting 
legal  proceedings,  he  compelled  Norton,  Godkin 
and  McKim  to  buy  up  the  Nation  for  the  balance 
of  cash  that  remained  from  the  original  subscrip 
tion  in  the  treasury:-  about  forty-three  per  cent. 
In  less  than  a  year  Godkin  had  sunk  over  forty 
thousand  dollars. 

E.  L.  Godkin  never  attempted  any  explanation 
or  justification  of  his  conduct,  except  that  he  had 
received  autocratic  control  of  the  paper  from  its 
trustees,  with  Mr.  Stearns'  approval;  but  this  did 
not  justify  him  in  deceiving  the  Boston  and 
Philadelphia  stockholders  as  to  his  future  inten 
tions.  He  also  advanced  the  singular  theory  that 
22  337 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

an  editor  was  not  responsible  to  his  stockholders 
but  to  his  subscribers.  Yet  Godkin  was  a  lawyer 
and  must  have  been  aware  that  the  manager  of  any 
corporation  is  responsible  in  certain  respects  to  its 
stockholders.  Mr.  Stearns  consoled  himself  with 
the  reflection  that  with  such  an  editor  the  Nation 
would  have  a  small  circulation  and  still  less  political 
influence ;  but  this  perverted  denouement  placed  him 
in  a  trying  position  toward  those  gentlemen  who 
had  subscribed  to  the  stock  on  his  recommendation. 


338 


XXI 

RECONSTRUCTION 

IN  January,  1864,  Mr.  Stearns  met  with  his  first 
serious  sickness.  Having  voted  for  Lincoln  for 
the  second  time,  he  went  to  New  York  to  further 
his  new  enterprise;  when  he  was  suddenly  taken 
ill.  He  was  dining  with  his  metal-broker,  Mr. 
Schmidt,  at  the  time,  and  Mr.  Schmidt  said  after 
ward  he  was  afraid  that  Mr.  Stearns  would  die 
before  he  left  him  on  the  Boston  train.  He  was  in 
a  stupor  the  next  morning  when  the  conductor 
aroused  him,  and  helped  him  to  a  carriage.  When 
he  reached  his  house,  he  only  said :  "  Home  at 
last !  "  and  did  not  speak  again  for  nearly  a  week. 
His  pocketbook  had  been  stolen  on  the  train,  and 
he  had  no  money  to  pay  the  coachman. 

It  was  a  wonder  that  he  recovered.  Dr.  Perry, 
who  saved  Sumner,  came  to  his  death  through  a 
surgical  operation,  and  during  Mr.  Stearns'  long 
absences  his  wife  had  employed  a  homoeopathic 
doctor  who  served  well  enough  for  Mrs.  Stearns' 
headaches,  but  was  not  the  physician  for  a  serious 
case.  It  is  also  to  be  feared  that  he  was  neglected. 
His  son,  not  hearing  anything  about  him  for  sev 
eral  days,  walked  over  from  Cambridge  between 
recitations.  He  found  his  father  in  bed,  and  he 
turned  his  eyes  toward  his  son,  but  could  not  speak. 
He  was  alone  in  the  house.  After  some  time  the 
chamber-maid,  an  excellent  woman,  came  in,  but 

339 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

she  could  say  nothing  definite  in  regard  to  Mr. 
Stearns'  condition. 

Yet,  Mr.  Stearns  rallied,  and  as  soon  as  he  was 
able  to  look  out  for  himself,  he  improved  steadily. 
He  was  always  his  own  best  doctor,  but  he  could 
not  give  himself  the  rest  he  required.  In  six 
weeks  he  was  again  at  his  business.  About  the 
first  of  the  new  year  he  even  joined  in  a  desperate 
effort  to  obtain  a  place  for  Governor  Andrew  in 
President  Lincoln's  cabinet.  He  was  assisted  in 
this  by  every  loyal  son  of  Massachusetts,  as  well  as 
by  prominent  public  men  in  other  states,  but  Lin 
coln  would  not  listen  to  it,  although  Andrew  as  a 
judicious  manager  of  public  affairs  was  now  con 
sidered  without  a  superior  in  the  United  States. 
Mr.  Stearns  believed  that  it  was  owing  to  the 
opposition  of  Seward,  who  disliked  to  have  anyone 
near  the  President  who  might  counteract  his  own 
influence. 

It  was  indeed  strange  that  the  merciful  and  con 
ciliatory  Lincoln  should  become  the  victim  of  an 
insensate  conspiracy  of  revenge,  but  it  only  shows 
the  importance  of  official  position  in  the  eyes  of  the 
vulgar.  The  Southerners  congratulated  themselves 
that  the  act  was  committed  by  a  Northern  man, — 
that  their  section  was  in  no  way  responsible  for  it ; 
but  William  Robinson  in  his  letter  to  the  Spring 
field  Republican  blamed  the  venomous  editorials 
in  the  Richmond  papers.  There  are  always  two 
parties  to  an  assassination;  those  who  instigate 
the  act  consciously  or  unconsciously,  and  the  poor 
self-deluded,  self-besotted  fool,  who  commits  it. 
The  assassination  of  McKinley  was  traced  directly 

340 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

to  the  incendiary  harangue  of  a  political  virago  at 
Detroit.  Mr.  Field,  the  Boston  theatre  manager, 
said  of  Wilkes  Booth,  that  he  was  "  a  bad  actor  and 
a  pestiferous  fellow," — more  respectable  than  Gui- 
teau,  but  otherwise  much  like  him.  How  newspapers 
and  public  speakers  can  be  kept  within  proper 
limits  in  such  matters  it  is  difficult  to  determine. 

Reconstruction  was  now  the  problem  before  the 
country,  and  such  a  momentous  one  that  both 
politicians  and  editors  shrank  from  it  as  if  it  were 
something  dangerous  and  even  deadly  to  the  touch. 
Historical  precedents  were  of  small  value  in  deal 
ing  with  this  subject,  for  never  before  had  a  nation 
been  placed  in  an  analogous  position.  The  resto 
ration  of  the  Union  by  Lincoln's  administration  was 
not  only  a  civil  war,  but  a  war  of  conquest.  There 
had  been  desolating  civil  wars  in  England  and 
France,  but  they  were  wars  of  classes  and  parties, 
without  fixed  or  definite  geographical  lines.  In  the 
reconstruction  of  the  Southern  states  it  became 
necessary  to  consider  them,  both  as  an  original  part 
of  the  Union  and  as  conquered  territory.  Under 
such  conditions  nothing  could  be  more  perilous 
than  a  hasty  and  injudicious  reconstruction. 

There  were  those  who  perceived  this,  but  uncer 
tainty  prevailed  in  their  councils ;  and  the  majority 
did  not  perceive  it.  It  was  now  that  Charles  Sum- 
ner  proved  himself  the  great  statesman,  and  George 
L.  Stearns  was  not  a  foot  behind  him.  Led  by  the 
instinct  of  justice  and  humanity  they  came  out 
boldly  with  the  assertion  that  negro  suffrage  was 
the  only  practicable  solution  of  the  problem. 

34i 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

Already,  in  the  last  days  of  Congress,  Trumbull 
of  Illinois  had  introduced  a  bill  for  the  reconstruc 
tion  of  Louisiana  on  a  basis  of  ten  thousand  loyal 
voters.  What  shallow  statesmanship !  how  danger 
ous  a  precedent!  On  such  a  basis  three  hundred 
thousand  voters  in  the  Southern  states  might  have 
wielded  a  power  equal  to  that  of  the  whole  North, 
minus  the  state  of  New  York;  and  yet  a  majority 
of  the  Senate  was  found  to  be  in  favor  of  it.  For 
three  days  and  nights  Sumner  with  a  little  help 
from  Wade  and  Wilson,  fought  that  bill  with  all 
the  weapons  of  parliamentary  warfare,  and  finally 
succeeded  in  preventing  its  adoption.  It  was  a 
feat  of  human  endurance  unparalleled  by  Gladstone 
or  Canning. 

As  already  stated,  Mr.  Stearns'  chief  object  in 
founding  the  Nation  was  to  advocate  reconstruc 
tion,  with  just  conditions  for  the  colored  people. 
He  had  not  seen  much  of  Sumner  since  his  Wash 
ington  dinner-party  in  1863,  but  now  they  came 
together  and  worked  hand-in-hand  for  the  common 
cause.  It  was  like  a  meeting  of  old  friends. 

There  is  a  valuable  saying  of  Frederick  the  Great 
that,  "  Nothing  which  is  not  simple  is  of  any  use  in 
war;  "  for  this  is  invariably  true  in  dealing  with 
large  bodies  of  men.  If  an  ingenious  scheme  of 
reconstruction  had  been  devised  especially  adapted 
to  the  peculiarities  of  the  negro  race,  it  is  doubtful 
if  it  could  have  passed  through  Congress,  and  even 
if  this  happened,  whether  it  would  have  become  a 
practical  success.  The  procedure  of  history  is 
not  like  the  rolling  of  a  wheel,  but  of  an  uneven 
stone. 

342 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Keeping  this  fact  in  view,  we  may  conclude  that 
there  were  only  three  general  forms  under  which 
reconstruction  could  be  considered.  The  rebellious 
states  might  be  restored  to  the  Union  as  they  were 
before  the  war,  leaving  the  colored  people  at  the 
mercy  of  their  former  masters;  or  the  colored 
people  might  be  placed,  like  the  Indian  tribes,  under 
the  protection  of  a  National  Bureau  with  United 
States  courts  for  the  adjudicature  of  cases  between 
whites  and  negroes;  or  the  colored  man  could  be 
enfranchised  and  placed  on  a  political  equality  with 
the  whites. 

The  first  plan  might  be  called  the  inhuman 
method;  and  yet  it  was  supported  by  Seward, 
Trumbull,  and  many  old  Free-soilers,  as  well  as  by 
Garrison  and  his  immediate  followers.  The  sec 
ond  plan  was  open  to  the  grave  objection  that  a 
Democratic  Congress  might  abolish  the  Freed- 
man's  Bureau  by  refusing  to  grant  appropriations 
for  it;  and  something  very  much  like  this  hap 
pened  in  1877.  The  third  plan  was,  therefore,  in 
spite  of  certain  disadvantages,  the  only  practicable 
one. 

The  important  question  at  that  moment  was  on 
which  side  of  the  fence  President  Johnson  would 
station  himself.  While  he  was  in  Tennessee,  and 
the  Confederate  army  only  one  hundred  miles  away, 
Mr.  Stearns  found  Andrew  Johnson  very  decided 
and  out-spoken,  in  regard  to  the  necessity  of  negro 
rights ;  and  at  this  time  he  felt  a  good  deal  of  con 
fidence  in  him, — although  he  never  quite  liked  his 
face.  Senator  Sumner  had  the  same  experience 
with  him,  as  appears  from  the  following  letter, 

343 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

written  to  Mr.   Stearns  from  Washington,  May 
4,  1865: 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  : 

"  The  more  I  think  of  our  case,  I  feel  the  importance  of 
the  discussion  in  the  article  to  which  I  called  your  attention. 
In  the  question  of  colored  suffrage  the  President  is  with  us. 
His  present  doubt  is  with  regard  to  the  way  of  bringing  it 
about. 

"This  opens  the  great  question  which  I  have  tried  to 
discuss;  and  my  only  anxiety  now  is  lest  there  may  be  a 
failure  to  employ  proper  means.  The  President  wishes 
the  movement  to  come  directly  from  the  people  in  their 
respective  localities.  It  will  be,  however,  prompter  and 
better  every  way,  if  it  is  guided  and  organized  under 
Federal  power;  and  if  possible,  by  act  of  Congress. 
"  Very  faithfully  yours, 

"  CHARLES  SUMNER." 

This  letter  has  rare  historical  value.  On  the 
nth  instant  Sumner  wrote  again: 

"  For  a  long  time  I  have  followed  our  great  question 
very  closely.  At  this  moment  it  labors  most  on  the  process 
of  reconstruction.  Any  discussion,  which  can  postpone  this 
till  Congress  meets,  will  help  negro  suffrage.  Without 
such  postponement  the  cause  is  endangered." 

And  again: 

"I  am  glad  that  the  good  work  is  proceeding. 

"  A  strong  paper  is  needed.  On  the  suffrage  question 
our  victory  will  be  easy.  I  know  the  field.  The  President 
is  with  us. 

"  I  am  to  speak  in  Boston  ist  June,  and  shall  not  forget 
our  cause." 

During  the  month  of  May,  Mr.  Stearns  was 
chiefly  occupied  with  the  affairs  of  the  ill-fated 
Nation.  The  first  of  June  he  went  to  Concord 

344 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

with  Mrs.  Stearns  to  call  on  the  Emersons,  and  to 
try  to  interest  Mr.  Emerson  in  the  cause  of  negro 
citizenship.  They  were  well  received,  and  he  found 
Emerson  favorably  disposed  to  the  object  of  his 
visit;  but  at  the  same  time  he  felt  a  difference  in 
his  manner,  an  aristocratic  reserve,  which  he  had 
never  noticed  before.  He  had  a  more  cheering 
reception  at  the  Alcotts',  where  the  young  people 
were  playing  croquet,  a  new  game  then,  which 
seemed  to  interest  him  greatly.  He  found  Mr. 
Alcott  very  much  in  earnest  in  regard  to  political 
subjects,  and  with  some  fine  plans  of  his  own  for 
the  new  era  that  was  opening  to  an  emancipated 
republic. 

On  the  drive  homeward  Mr.  Stearns  said :  "  I 
think  Emerson  has  finished  his  work,  and  little 
more  is  to  be  expected  from  him.  On  the  other 
hand  Alcott  is  looking  forward  to  a  new  field  of 
activity  and  I  believe  his  best  days  are  yet  to 
come." 

Mr.  Stearns'  prediction  proved  to  be  true. 
From  this  time  Emerson  would  seem  to  have  illus 
trated  the  reactionary  effect  which  children  some 
times  have  upon  their  parents ;  and  many  pleasant 
places  that  had  known  him  formerly  saw  no  more 
of  him  henceforward.  A  year  later,  when  his 
friends  and  followers  started  a  magazine  called  the 
Radical,  which  in  literary  ability  was  fully  equal 
to  the  Dial  (formerly  edited  by  Emerson  himself), 
he  declined  to  give  it  his  support,  and  although  he 
had  a  large  quantity  of  unpublished  manuscripts 
he  would  never  allow  the  editor  to  make  use  of  any 
of  them.  His  Phi  Beta  Kappa  oration  in  1867  was 

345 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

so  much  of  a  panegyric  that  it  seemed  as  if  the 
millennium  must  be  at  hand.  As  he  grew  older,  he 
became  more  censorious  and  less  sympathetic. 
Many  of  his  truest  friends  regretted  to  see  this 
change  in  him,  although  similar  instances  among 
celebrated  writers  have  not  been  uncommon. 

Mr.  Stearns,  however,  discovered  a  new  friend 
and  valuable  ally  at  this  time,  who  arose  like  an 
Aldebaran  on  his  horizon.  At  a  certain  party  in 
Cambridge  connected  with  the  affairs  of  the 
Nation,  he  met  James  Russell  Lowell,  who  seemed 
to  be  surprisingly  ill-informed  concerning  public  af 
fairs,  and  also  Prof.  Parsons  of  the  Harvard  Law 
School,  whom  he  found  to  be  no  university  fossil, 
but  a  live  man  with  a  heart  in  him,  and  a  mind 
of  his  own.  They  had  such  an  agreeable  con 
versation  together  that  the  professor  invited  Mr. 
Stearns  to  call  at  his  house  and  continue  their 
discussion.  This  Mr.  Stearns  did  a  few  days 
later. 

Theophilus  Parsons,  the  son  of  a  chief  justice 
of  Massachusetts,  was  a  man  of  conservative  ten 
dencies,  a  friend  and  admirer  of  Webster,  but  as 
stout  a  patriot  as  old  John  Adams.  He  always 
considered  the  Fugitive  Slave  'Bill  a  political  blun 
der,  and  was  not  surprised  at  the  consequences  of 
it.  He  was  not  a  hide-bound  conservative,  but  a 
growing  man  at  sixty,  and  Mr.  Stearns  found 
great  agreement  with  the  plan  of  reconstruction 
which  he  expanded  before  him.  He  urged  the  pro 
fessor  to  write  out  his  statement  and  publish  it; 
there  was  no  time  to  be  lost, — it  was  needed  that 
very  moment. 

346 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Professor  Parsons  did  not  know  where  he  could 
publish  it.  He  was  not  in  "  the  ring;  "  the  North 
American  Review  was  closed  to  him;  and  as  for 
newspapers  there  was  too  much  uncertainty  about 
them.  Mr.  Stearns  rose  and  walked  the  floor. 
"  There  must  be  a  way,"  he  said.  Then  suddenly: 
"  Write  out  your  statement.  My  friends  and  I 
will  call  a  meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall  and  I  will  obtain 
fifty  of  the  best  names  in  Boston  for  vice-presi 
dents  ;  and  you  shall  be  president  of  the  meeting." 

No  sooner  said  than  done.  Everybody  fell 
into  line  as  if  by  magic.  Forbes,  Endicott  and 
Atkinson  were  delighted  with  the  plan.  Merchants 
like  Alpheus  Hardy  and  Henry  Lee,  who  would 
not  speak  to  Mr.  Stearns  in  1859,  signed  the  call 
for  the  meeting.  It  is  doubtful  if  they  realized 
altogether  what  would  be  the  outcome  of  it ;  but  so 
much  the  better.  Never  was  Webster  supported 
by  a  more  solid  phalanx.  Mr.  Stearns  considered 
it  important  that  no  prominent  abolitionist  should 
appear  on  the  list. 

Mr.  Stearns  also  wrote  to  Emerson  inviting 
him  to  make  a  speech  on  this  occasion;  but  Em 
erson  replied : 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  : 

"  I  feel  much  complimented  at  the  request  of  yourself  and 
friends  to  address  an  audience  in  the  old  Cradle  of  Liberty, 
and  if  it  is  humanly  possible  for  me  to  be  in  Boston  on  that 
day,  I  will  certainly  attend  the  meeting;  but  experience 
has  taught  me  that  I  should  not  trust  myself  to  speak  on 
subjects  in  which  I  have  so  deep  an  interest,  and  for  which 
I  feel  so  strongly  as  the  cause  you  advocate. 
"Yours  faithfully, 

"  R.  W.  EMERSON." 
347 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

We  notice  that  the  poet  Whittier  was  one  of  the 
vice-presidents  of  this  meeting,  and  that  James 
Russell  Lowell  was  also  asked,  and  declined  to 
allow  the  use  of  his  name.  Mr.  Stearns  was  one 
of  the  last  to  sign  the  call. 

The  meeting  was  held  on  the  2ist  of  June,  and 
Faneuil  Hall  was  crowded.  Professor  Parsons' 
address  was  nearly  equal  to  the  best  of  Webster's 
orations, — so  clear  was  his  thought,  so  cogent  his 
reasoning,  and  emphatic  his  delivery.  In  the  begin 
ning  he  reviewed  the  cause  of  the  Civil  War,  which 
he  attributed  to  the  condition  of  society  in  the 
slave  states : 

"  Slavery,  with  its  effect  on  what  would  other 
wise  have  been  the  laboring  class  of  whites,  re 
sulted  in  a  system  which  is  substantially  oligarchial. 
It  gave  to  the  masters  the  advantages  of  oligarchy, 
and  trained  them  personally  in  its  habits,  senti 
ments  and  passions.  Slavery  and  oligarchy  do  not 
rest  on  political  economy;  but  have  their  sources 
in  the  pride  and  passions  of  men.  They  are,  there 
fore,  if  circumstances  at  all  favor  them,  an  ever- 
present  danger.  The  Southern  people  came  to  con 
sider  themselves  as  moulded,  by  their  training  and 
position,  into  a  master  race,  not  only  over  their 
slaves,  but  in  their  relations  with  their  fellow- 
citizens  of  the  free  states,  whose  political  equality 
and  free  labor  they  had  come  to  despise.  To  sup 
port  their  system,  in  national  politics,  they  in 
vented  and  used,  as  a  most  effectual  weapon,  the 
dogma  of  State  Supremacy,  which  they  disguised 
under  the  name  of  State  Rights." 

348 


THEOPHILUS  PARSONS 
Professor  in   Harvard  Law  School 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

He  declared  the  supremacy  of  the  national  gov 
ernment  in  terms  which  created  great  enthusiasm, 
and  prepared  his  audience  for  what  was  to  follow : 

"  The  right  of  this  republic  to  be  a  sovereign, 
among  the  sovereignties  of  the  earth,  must  be  put 
beyond  future  dispute,  abroad  as  well  as  at  home. 
We  have  paid  the  fearful  price,  and  we  must  not 
be  defrauded  of  the  results." 

He  then  pointed  out  the  dangers  of  a  hasty  recon 
struction,  such  as  Trumbull  attempted: 

"  Let  us  now,  fellow-citizens,  look  at  the  dangers 
which  attend  an  immediate  restoration  of  the  rebel 
states  to  the  exercise  of  full  state  authority.  Slavery 
is  the  law  of  every  rebel  state.  In  some  of  these 
states  free  persons  of  color  are  not  permitted  to 
reside;  in  none  of  them  have  they  the  right  to 
testify  in  court,  or  to  be  educated;  in  few  of  them 
to  hold  land,  and  in  all  of  them  they  are  totally 
disfranchised.  But,  far  beyond  the  letter  of  the 
law,  the  spirit  of  the  people  and  the  habits  of  the 
generations  are  such  as  to  insure  the  permanence 
of  that  state  of  things,  in  substance.  If  slavery 
should  be  abolished  in  form,  their  spirit  and  habits, 
their  pride  and  passions,  will  lead  them  to  up 
hold  their  oligarchal  system,  built  upon  a  debased 
colored  population,  and  intrenched  behind  state 
institutions,  over  which  the  nation  cannot  pass 
in  peace.  Their  personal  relation  with  the  colored 
people,  as  masters  over  slaves,  being  changed  in 
law,  they  will  look  upon  them  in  a  new  light,  as  a 
class  to  be  feared,  and  as  the  cause  of  their  defeat 
and  humiliation.  They  will  not  tax  themselves 
to  give  to  the  freedmen  an  education.  They  will 

349 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

not  permit  the  continuance  within  their  states  of 
philanthropic  agencies  for  colored  people,  from  the 
free  states.  They  will  not  encourage  Northern 
immigration,  with  systems  of  small  free-holds  and 
free  labor;  nor  will  capital  and  labor  go  there 
from  the  free  states  under  present  auspices." 

"  The  public  faith  is  pledged,"  he  said,  "  to  every 
person  of  color  in  the  rebel  states,  to  secure  to  them 
and  their  posterity  forever  a  complete  and  veritable 
freedom."  Then  finally: 

"  And  we  declare  it  to  be  our  belief  that  if  the 
nation  admits  a  rebel  state  to  its  full  functions 
with  a  constitution  which  does  not  secure  to  the 
freedmen  the  right  of  suffrage  in  such  manner  as 
to  be  impartial  and  not  based  in  principle  upon 
color,  and  as  to  be  reasonably  attainable  by  in 
telligence  and  character,  and  which  does  not  place 
in  their  hands  a  substantial  power  to  defend  their 
rights  as  citizens  at  the  ballot-box,  with  the  right 
to  be  educated,  to  acquire  homesteads  and  to  testify 
in  courts,  the  nation  will  be  recreant  to  its  duty  to 
itself  and  to  them,  and  will  incur  and  deserve  to 
incur  danger  and  reproach  proportioned  to  the 
magnitude  of  its  responsibility." 

This  address  was  loudly  applauded,  and  other 
speakers  followed  in  a  similar  vein.  A  committee 
was  appointed  consisting  of  Richard  H.  Dana, 
John  G.  Whittier,  George  L.  Stearns  and  four 
others,  to  have  Professor  Parsons'  address  printed, 
and  a  copy  sent,  with  an  appropriate  introduction, 
to  President  Johnson. 

How  different  is  such  clear  comprehensive  rea 
soning  from  E.  L.  Godkin's  ambiguous  paragraph 

35o 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

in  the  first  number  of  the  Nation.*  It  was  the 
policy  outlined  at  this  Faneuil  Hall  meeting  which 
was  afterward  adopted  by  Congress,  and  which 
gave  the  tone  to  Southern  reconstruction. 

Immediately  after  this,  Mr.  Stearns  commenced 
an  undertaking  of  great  magnitude  of  which  he 
did  not  live  to  see  the  completion — nothing  less 
than  a  bureau  in  which  were  to  be  represented  all 
the  important  freedom-loving  and  patriotic  per 
sons  in  the  country.  The  same  class  of  people 
whom  he  had  lately  called  together  in  Boston  were 
to  be  looked  for  in  other  places,  and  organized  into 
a  league  to  advance  the  cause  of  good  government, 
and  especially  of  a  progressive  reconstruction. 
Within  three  months  he  obtained  more  than  two 
thousand  names  of  correspondents  in  different 
parts  of  the  country — men  who  promised  to  assist 
him  in  this  work. 

On  July  2  he  wrote  to  Captain  Cochrane,  who 
had  been  his  private  secretary  at  Nashville  and 
who  loved  him  like  an  own  son : 

"  I  am  busily  engaged  here  in  organizing  the  Radical  force 
of  the  country  for  future  operations.  My  correspondence 
from  all  states  of  the  Union  is  larger  than  that  I  had  at 
Nashville,  and  I  employ  six  to  ten  clerks  in  my  various 
operations,  besides  those  in  my  regular  business.  I  send  out 

*This  is  the  text  of  the  objectionable  paragraph:  "The 
negro's  success  in  assuming  a  prominent  position  in  the 
political  arena,  seems  to  be  in  the  inverse  ratio  of  the 
earnestness  with  which  it  is  sought  to  suppress  him,  and 
put  him  out  of  sight.  Everybody  is  heartily  tired  of  dis 
cussing  his  condition,  and  his  rights,  and  yet  little  else  is 
talked  about,  and  none  talk  about  him  so  much  as  those 
who  are  most  convinced  of  his  insignificance." 

351 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

10,000  newspapers  and  3,000  pamphlets  per  week  to  single 
names,  and  am  making  preparations  to  double  the  number. 
"As  to  those  old  affairs  I  have  buried  them  root  and 
branch,  for  I  could  not  understand  the  conflicting  stories  I 
received." 

The  general  acceptation  of  the  word  "  radical  " 
is  of  a  person  who  goes  to  extremes,  but  Mr. 
Stearns'  use  of  it  was  a  constructive  one.  He 
wished  to  remodel  society  on  a  broad  radical  basis 
of  equality  before  the  law ;  and  in  this  sense  the  first 
Napoleon  was  as  much  a  Radical  as  Mr.  Stearns. 

He  had  already  assisted  with  Governor  Andrew 
and  others  in  organizing  a  company  for  the  devel 
opment  of  Southern  industry  with  Northern  capital. 
They  began  with  cotton  raising  in  Tennessee,  and 
for  the  first  year  this  proved  a  good  success ;  but 
the  second  year  the  result  was  a  loss,  and  after  Mr. 
Stearns'  death  the  enterprise  came  to  an  untimely 
end,  chiefly  through  the  traitorous  conduct  of 
President  Johnson. 

The  conduct  of  the  old  abolitionists  after  the 
close  of  the  war  resembles  that  of  the  horses  which 
Cortes  and  his  followers  left  behind  them  in 
Mexico;  that  is,  they  divided  themselves  into  two 
factions,  and  fought  one  another  with  as  much 
acrimony  as  they  had  contended  against  the  slave- 
ocracy.  Garrison  considered  that  the  negro  was 
now  liberated,  and  could  be  safely  left  to  work  out 
his  own  salvation;  and  he  maintained  this  in  spite 
of  the  assassination  of  Lincoln  and  Trumbull's 
plan  of  reconstruction.  Phillips  agreed  with  Sen 
ator  Sumner  and  Professor  Parsons  that  the  most 

352 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

important  moment  in  the  history  of  the  negro  race 
was  at  hand,  and  that  without  citizenship  the  negro 
could  have  no  genuine  freedom.  Garrison  wished 
the  Antislavery  Society  to  be  dissolved;  and  Phil 
lips  advocated  its  continuance  until  civil  rights 
for  the  colored  people  had  been  secured.  It  is 
most  remarkable  that  Garrison  should  have  ob 
jected  so  strongly  as  he  did  to  the  continuation  of 
the  society,  if  any  considerable  portion  of  its  mem 
bers  desired  it. 

Mr.  Stearns  believed  that  this  old  organization 
was  worth  preserving  in  the  present  crisis,  and 
went  to  New  York  on  purpose  to  support  Phillips, 
who  with  his  assistance  carried  the  day.  As  Phil 
lips  afterward  said  to  Mrs.  Stearns :  "  It  was  the 
Major  that  did  it ;  "  but  many  of  those  who  voted 
against  Wendell  Phillips  on  this  occasion  would 
never  speak  to  him  again  on  the  street, — for  a  mere 
difference  of  opinion. 

In  the  second  week  of  August  Salmon  P.  Chase, 
who  was  now  chief  justice,  came  to  Boston,  and 
Mr.  Stearns  invited  him  to  meet  Professor  Par 
sons,  Wendell  Phillips  and  other  gentlemen  at 
dinner.  The  chief  justice  had  read  the  Faneuil 
Hall  address  and  said  very  complimentary  things 
to  Mr.  Parsons  concerning  it.  The  question  of 
reconstruction  was  thoroughly  discussed.  Profes 
sor  Parsons  was  especially  anxious  that  the  colored 
people  should  obtain  possession  of  land :  he  wished 
those  large  orligarchical  estates  in  the  South  could 
be  broken  up.  The  chief  justice  wished  so  too, 
but  he  did  not  see  how  it  could  be  done  under  our 
23  353 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

form  of  government.  "  I  am  far,"  he  said,  "  from 
being  a  monarchist;  but  governments  like  those  of 
Prussia  and  Italy  can  accomplish  changes  at  a 
single  stroke  which  in  our  republic  require  a  long 
time  to  develop.  I  should  look  upon  an  agrarian 
law  as  a  very  dangerous  precedent,  as  dangerous  as 
monarchy  itself." 

Professor  Parsons  admitted  the  difficulty;  and 
Mrs.  Stearns  said :  "  Those  who  till  the  soil  come 
to  own  the  soil."  The  chief  justice  smiled  and 
replied :  "  It  ought  to  be  so,  Mrs.  Stearns,  but  in  a 
majority  of  instances  it  has  not  proved  to  be  the 
case."  * 

President  Lincoln's  Emancipation  Proclamation 
next  came  under  discussion.  Wendell  Phillips 
thought  the  document  was  too  lengthy,  he  could 
wish  that  every  slave  in  the  United  States  would 
have  been  liberated  in  one  grand  sentence.  The 
chief  justice  smiled  again.  "  I  respect  your  phi 
lanthropy,"  he  said,  "  but  you  do  not  realize  the 
difficulties  we  have  to  contend  against  in  Wash 
ington.  I  agree  with  you  that  in  most  cases  legal 
documents  are  unnecessarily  lengthy.  Last  winter 
I  purchased  a  house  in  Washington,  and  wrote  the 
deed  myself.  The  register  of  deeds  called  my 
attention  to  the  fact  that  it  only  made  half  a  page 
on  his  books;  whereas  the  other  deeds  were  from 
one  to  two  pages  in  length." 

*  Nothing  could  illustrate  better  the  reactionary  tendency 
of  the  legal  profession  than  this  statement  from  a  chief 
justice  of  the  United  States.  The  greater  part  of  the  land 
in  France  is  owned  by  those  who  till  the  soil,  and  so  it  is 
in  large  portions  of  Prussia.  It  is  a  tendency  of  the  age. 

354 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Mrs.  Stearns  remarked :  "  I  like  the  last  para 
graph  of  Lincoln's  proclamation  in  which  he  says : 
44  By  doing  justice  to  the  black  race,  we  insure 
freedom  for  the  white."  To  the  surprise  of  every 
one  the  chief  justice  replied :  "  I  wrote  that  para 
graph,  Mrs.  Stearns.  When  President  Lincoln 
read  his  proclamation  to  us,  he  asked  the  opinion 
of  each  of  his  cabinet  in  regard  to  it,  and  when  he 
came  to  me  I  said :  '  Would  it  not  be  well,  Mr. 
President,  to  add  a  clause  concerning  the  moral 
character  of  this  grand  act  of  statesmanship  ?  ' 
'  Yes,  I  think  it  would,'  replied  Mr.  Lincoln. 
'  Have  you  any  statement  in  your  mind,  at  this 
moment,  which  you  would  like  to  make  on  that 
point  ?  '  I  said,  yes,  I  had.  He  handed  me  a  piece 
of  paper,  and  requested  me  to  write  it  down, — 
which  I  did  with  the  result  that  you  know." 

After  this,  with  genuine  politeness,  the  chief 
justice  made  some  inquiries  of  Mr.  Stearns  in 
regard  to  his  experiences  in  Tennessee ;  concerning 
which  it  is  only  necessary  to  remark  that  Mr. 
Stearns  found  the  "  peculiar  institution  "  on  close 
inspection  to  be  much  worse  than  he  had  ever 
imagined  it. 

Soon  after  this  Mr.  Stearns  went  on  another 
journey  to  Washington,  where  on  September  20 
he  wrote  a  letter  to  Hon.  E.  C.  Cabell,  of  Memphis, 
Tennessee,  on  the  southern  labor  problem,  in  which 
he  said: 

"Sm: 

"  I  have  read  carefully  your  letter  in  the  Tribune,  and 
agree  with  you  in  the  advantages  of  soil  and  climate,  which 
the  Southern  States  offer  to  white  immigrants. 

355 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

"  I  also  fully  reciprocate  your  desire  that  all  ill  feelings 
arising  from  past  differences  may  be  forgotten.  If  therefore, 
I  dwell  in  this  letter  mainly  on  the  errors  of  the  Southern 
section,  it  is  not  because  I  believe  the  North  free  from 
complicity  in  this  great  crime,  but  for  the  reason  that  a 
statement  of  Northern  delinquencies  would  complicate  the 
subject.  It  is  enough  that  the  whole  country  has  grievously 
sinned  and  is  now  paying  the  penalty.  Let  us  all  hasten  to 
make  the  necessary  atonement  and  endeavor  to  repair  the 
wrong.  It  is  essential  for  the  prosperity  of  our  country  that 
as  speedily  as  possible  the  North  and  South  should  learn 
that  injustice  to  one  section  is  injury  to  the  whole,  because 
it  retards  civilization;  that  the  denial  of  civil  rights  to  a 
portion  of  our  citizens  strikes  at  the  foundation  of  good 
government,  and  that  the  refusal  of  fair  compensation  to 
a  portion  of  our  laborers  degrades  labor  everywhere.  To 
speak  in  plainer  terms,  the  refusal  of  Southern  landholders 
to  pay  their  colored  fellow-citizens  a  fair  price  for  their 
labor,  because  they  are  not  wholly  of  white  blood,  degrades 
the  labor  of  Southern  white  men,  and  prevents  them  from 
acquiring  habits  of  thrift  and  industry. 

"It  is  in  vain,  therefore,  that  you  call  on  other  laborers 
to  enter  your  fields  and  till  your  bountiful  soil,  so  long 
as  you  refuse  just  compensation  to  those  that  now  are 
ready  to  work  for  you  at  fair  wages.  Begin  at  home  with 
the  laborers  you  have  around  you;  call  them  together  and 
say  you  are  ready  to  give  them  the  same  wages,  as  prompt 
pay,  and  as  kind  treatment  for  their  skilled  labor  as  you 
must  give  to  the  unskilled  and  unacclimated  labor  of  the 
North,  and  you  will  find  they  will  return  to  your  farms, 
railroads  and  all  other  employments  requiring  manual  labor, 
'  with  alacrity/ 

"  In  making  this  statement  I  do  not  depend  on  the  reports 
of  others.  I  have  employed  laborers  at  the  South  as  well 
as  at  the  North,  and  have  now  men  and  women  in  both 
sections  of  the  country  at  work  for  me,  not  of  one  class 
only,  but  of  all  classes,  skilled  and  unskilled,  native  and 
foreign  labor,  and  I  tell  you  from  experience  that  the 
colored  man  labors  as  well  as  any  race  in  the  world." 

356 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

This  letter  occupied  a  column  of  the  New  York 
Tribune,  and  was  extensively  copied.  Mr.  Stearns 
used  to  tell  a  story  of  Abbott  Lawrence,  the  father 
of  his  Boston  friend,  who  was  an  importer  of  dry 
goods.  A  customer  one  day  asked  him :  "  How 
is  it  that  you,  Mr.  Lawrence,  who  have  so  much 
business,  always  seem  to  be  at  leisure ;  "  to  which 
he  replied,  "I  decide  every  question  quickly;  and 
pay  my  clerks  all  they  are  worth."  This  is  a 
principle  which  political  economists  would  seem  to 
have  neglected. 

On  his  return  from  Washington  Mr.  Stearns, 
not  having  succeeded  with  the  Nation,,  established 
a  paper  of  his  own  in  Boston  called  the  Right  Way, 
for  the  special  purpose  of  advocating  the  rights  of 
the  freedmen.  Professor  Crosby,  of  Salem,  well 
known  for  his  Greek  grammar,  wrote  forcible  edi 
torials  for  it,  and  would  take  no  pay  for  his  ser 
vices.  A  Cambridgeport  *  man,  named  Thayer, 
conducted  the  business  part  of  the  undertaking  in 
an  admirable  manner.  It  is  doubtful  if  Mr.  Stearns 
ever  solicited  subscriptions  for  it,  and  he  had  to 
bear  the  chief  expense  himself.  He  was  determined 
to  carry  through  this  work  at  any  sacrifice.  Copies 
were  mailed  every  week  to  all  Republican  senators 
and  members  of  Congress,  to  the  members  of  Mr. 
Stearns'  bureau,  and  to  prominent  public  men  all 
over  the  country.  It  would  not  be  easy  to  estimate 
its  influence  on  reconstruction;  for  the  policy  it 
advocated  was  the  one  finally  adopted. 


*  A  place  designated  by  Mr.  C  E.  Norton  as  "  the  abomina 
tion   of  desolation." 

'      357 


XXII 
A  PERFIDIOUS  PRESIDENT 

WHAT  Secretary  Seward's  motives  were  in  sup 
porting  Andrew  Johnson  may  always  remain  a 
mystery.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Stanton  and 
McCulloch  held  their  places  in  his  cabinet  from 
patriotic  motives — in  order  to  make  the  best  of  a 
dangerous  situation.  Whether  Seward  did  the 
same  we  cannot  tell ;  but  it  is  only  fair  to  interpret 
his  action  in  the  light  of  his  earlier  and  nobler  ser 
vices  to  the  republic. 

Charles  Sumner  did  not  return  to  Boston  till 
late  in  August,  and  the  occasion  of  his  long  stay 
in  Washington  would  seem  to  have  been  for  the 
purpose  of  retaining  the  influence  on  the  President 
which  he  had  gained  so  quickly  after  Lincoln's 
assassination.  He  frankly  confessed  to  Wendell 
Phillips,  Dr.  Howe  and  Mr.  Stearns,  that  he  had 
not  succeeded  in  this.  Johnson  had  gradually 
cooled  toward  him,  and  had  become  more  and 
more  reserved  on  the  subject  of  reconstruction.  He 
could  not  tell  whether  Seward  had  captured  John 
son,  or  Johnson  Seward.  He  believed  that  John 
son  would  Tylerize  his  administration.  Seward 
and  Welles  would  go  with  him,  as  they  no  longer 
had  anything  to  hope  from  their  own  party.  Sum 
ner  looked  for  stormy  times. 

Wendell  Phillips  was  ready  to  believe  this,  but 
George  L.  Stearns  was  not.  He  quickly  discovered 

358 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

a  different  reason  for  the  President's  coolness 
towards  Sumner.  He  knew  the  prejudice  which 
Tennessee  people  felt  toward  Puritanic  New  Eng- 
landers, — a  prejudice  which  he  escaped  himself  by 
his  more  rugged  nature  and  cordial,  open-hearted 
manners.  He  knew  that  no  description  of  person 
could  be  more  antipathetic  to  President  Johnson 
than  a  fastidious  Harvard  scholar;  and  he  con 
cluded  that  Sumner  would  have  shown  better 
tactics  to  have  left  the  President  alone.  This 
would  seem  to  be  more  than  reasonable;  and  yet 
the  sequel  proved  that  Sumner  was  right. 

Mr.  Stearns  was  determined  to  see  Johnson  him 
self,  and  went  to  Washington  the  last  of  September 
for  that  purpose.  The  President  received  him  cor 
dially,  and  they  talked  freely  on  politics  for  more 
than  an  hour.  When  Mr.  Stearns  referred  to  the 
reports  that  he,  Johnson,  intended  to  desert  the 
Republican  party,  the  President  said  laughingly: 

"  Major,  have  you  never  known  a  man  who  for 
many  years  had  differed  from  your  views  because 
you  were  in  advance  of  him,  claim  them  as  his  own 
when  he  came  up  to  your  standpoint  ?  The  Demo 
cratic  party  finds  its  old  position  untenable,  and  is 
coming  to  ours;  if  it  has  come  up  to  our  position 
I  am  glad  of  it." 

They  then  proceeded  to  the  question  of  recon 
struction,  and  Andrew  Johnson  confessed  that  his 
position  in  the  White  House  was  somewhat  differ 
ent  from  what  it  was  in  Tennessee.  He  said : 

"  Our  government  is  a  grand  and  lofty  struct 
ure  ;  in  searching  for  its  foundation  we  find  it  rests 
on  the  broad  basis  of  popular  rights.  The  elective 

359 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

franchise  is  not  a  natural  right,  but  a  political 
right.  I  am  opposed  to  giving  the  states  too  much 
power,  and  also  to  great  consolidation  of  power  in 
the  central  government. 

"  If  I  interfered  with  the  vote  in  the  rebel  states, 
to  dictate  that  the  negro  shall  vote,  I  might  do  the 
same  thing  for  my  own  purposes  in  Pennsylvania. 
Our  only  safety  lies  in  allowing  each  state  to 
control  the  right  of  voting  by  its  own  laws,  and 
we  have  the  power  to  control  the  rebel  states  if 
they  go  wrong.  If  they  rebel,  we  have  the  army 
and  can  control  them  by  it,  and,  if  necessary,  by 
legislation  also.  If  the  general  government  con 
trols  the  right  to  vote  in  the  states,  it  may  establish 
such  rules  as  will  restrict  the  vote  to  a  small  num 
ber  of  persons,  and  thus  create  a  central  despotism. 

"  Another  thing.  This  government  is  the  freest 
and  best  on  the  earth,  and  I  feel  sure  is  destined 
to  last;  but  to  secure  this,  we  must  elevate  and 
purify  the  ballot." 

This  sounds  like  the  talk  of  a  professor  of  politi 
cal  science  at  the  present  day.  It  was  not  what  Mr. 
Stearns  hoped  for,  and  yet  he  considered  it  better 
than  nothing.  He  returned  to  Willard's  Hotel 
and  wrote  out  a  statement  of  the  conversation 
verbatim;  then  sent  it  to  Andrew  Johnson  for  his 
approval.  The  President  replied  as  follows: 

"  I  have  read  the  within  communication  and  find  it  sub 
stantially  correct. 
"  I  have  made  some  verbal  alterations. 

"  A.  J." 

After  his  return  to  Boston,  Mr.  Stearns  called 
a  meeting  of  Sumner  and  his  friends  at  Dr.  Howe's 

360 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

office,  and  read  his  statement  to  them;  but  to  his 
surprise  everyone  of  them  was  opposed  to  his  pub 
lishing  it.  Sumner  said :  "  If  the  President  had 
anything  to  say,  Stearns,  he  would  have  said  it  to 
me,  not  to  you."  Mr.  Stearns  thought  this  very 
weak  reasoning,  and  he  argued  that  his  statement 
would  serve  as  an  entering  wedge  for  negro  suf 
frage;  for  which  the  general  public  was  not  yet 
altogether  prepared.  It  would  pin  Andrew  John 
son  down  to  a  definite  policy,  and  in  course 
of  six  months  they  might  get  something  better 
from  him.  Sumner,  however,  did  not  agree  to 
this.  He  foresaw  that  he  was  going  to  have  a  hard 
tussle,  and  he  considered  any  action  that  tended 
to  make  the  President  popular  would  be  so  much  to 
his  own  disadvantage.  He  was  not  to  be  blamed 
for  this ;  but  at  the  same  time  it  would  seem  that 
Mr.  Stearns  saw  the  situation  more  clearly. 

He  published  the  account  of  his  interview,  "mea 
gre  and  unsatisfactory,"  as  he  called  it  in  his  letter 
of  introduction,  on  October  24,  and  it  was  hailed 
with  satisfaction  from  Maine  to  Tennessee.  It 
cleared  up  the  cloudiness  of  the  political  situation 
for  the  Republicans  and  disconcerted  the  Demo 
cratic  leaders,  who  were  now  claiming  the  Presi 
dent  as  their  man,  and  at  the  same  time  were 
vehemently  opposing  colored  suffrage.  The  Cleve 
land  Leader,  General  Garfield's  newspaper,  said 
of  it: 

"  We  do  not  see  how  radical  men,  even  though  they  may 
individually  prefer  to  go  further,  can  quarrel  with  the 
position  of  the  President.  It  places  him  very  clearly  among 
the  friends,  rather  than  the  enemies,  of  Negro  Suffrage. 

361 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

His  opposition  to  the  universal  application  of  the  principle 
is  one  of  expediency  solely,  and  he  favors  its  moderate 
assertion  at  first,  as  a  means  of  avoiding  a  war  of  races. 
His  views,  if  adopted  by  the  South  would  afford  a  practical 
solution  of  the  suffrage  question  which  would  do  away 
with  the  greatest  difficulty  in  the  way  of  reconstruction,  and 
ultimately  result  in  the  extension  of  the  suffrage  to  every 
negro  worthy  of  its  exercise." 

It  was  credited  with  producing  a  favorable  effect 
on  the  election,  which  followed  ten  days  later,  and 
General  Francis  C.  Barlow  wrote  to  Mr.  Stearns 
from  New  York :  "  You  have  helped  us  to  carry 
New  Jersey."  It  is  highly  probable  that  the  publi 
cation  did  serve  as  an  entering  wedge  in  the  popu 
lar  mind  in  favor  of  colored  citizenship.  It  cer 
tainly  did  not  injure  Senator  Sumner,  or  the  cause 
he  was  supporting;  although  many  of  the  old 
Free-soilers  attempted  to  prove  this,  and  even 
attacked  Mr.  Stearns  for  stating  that  President 
Johnson  appeared  in  excellent  health.  They  wanted 
to  make  out  that  he  was  intemperate. 

Mr.  Stearns*  statement  concerning  himself  in 
this  letter  is  also  worth  quoting.  He  said: 

"  You  are  aware  that  I  do  not  associate  much  with  men 
in  political  life,  but  rather  with  those  who,  representing  the 
advanced  moral  sense  of  the  country,  earnestly  labor  for 
the  good  of  our  people,  without  hope  of,  or  even  desire 
for  office  or  other  immediate  reward.  The  latter  class 
desire  earnestly  to  understand  your  plans,  and,  if  possible, 
support  your  administration." 

It  is  possible  that  the  Bird  Club  took  offence  at 
this ;  for  they  were  all  office-holders  now,  excepting 
Dr.  Howe  and  Mr.  Stearns.  The  associates  whom 
he  refers  to  are  evidently  Professor  Parsons,  Wil- 

362 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Ham  Endicott,  Edward  Atkinson,  and  other  sup 
porters  of  the  Faneuil  Hall  meeting. 

The  second  week  of  November  Mr.  Stearns  was 
taken  sick  again — an  illness  from  which  he  never 
wholly  recovered — and  he  knew  little  of  politics 
until  the  last  of  December.  He  attributed  his  ill 
ness  to  the  opposition  of  his  friends  in  regard  to 
the  Andrew  Johnson  letter,  and  he  certainly  felt 
this  very  keenly ;  but  his  whole  system,  nervous  and 
muscular,  had  been  overwrought  with  the  exertions 
of  the  past  six  months.  He  was  now  close  to  his 
fifty-seventh  birthday,  and  he  had  been  working 
like  a  man  of  thirty. 

Meanwhile  Congress  had  met,  and  after  the 
President's  second  message  was  read,  Sumner  rose 
from  his  desk  and  characterized  it  as  a  "  white 
washing  document."  He  stood  alone  in  the  Senate 
that  day ;  but  in  three  weeks'  time  every  Republican 
member  of  Congress  had  come  over  to  his  side. 
It  was  the  most  brilliant  triumph  of  his  life. 

Andrew  Johnson  not  only  betrayed  the  party 
that  elected  him,  but  his  own  friends  and  support 
ers  in  Tennessee.  Dr.  Bowen  repudiated  him  at 
once,  and  was  soon  afterward  elected  United  States 
senator  on  that  basis.  Old  Governor  Brownlow, 
when  he  came  to  Boston  the  following  April  to 
speak  in  Faneuil  Hall,  called  the  President  a 
"  black-hearted  recreant,  and  a  blood-thirsty  mis 
creant  to  boot."  Mr.  Stearns  heard  him  say  it, 
and  had  the  speech  reported  for  his  newspaper,  the 
Right  Way,  which  all  this  time  was  being  steadily 
circulated.  Andrew  Johnson  was  helping  Mr. 
Stearns  to  row  his  boat. 

363 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

Only  two  of  Mr.  Stearns'  friends  took  notice 
of  his  illness  at  this  time, — Wendell  Phillips  and 
Dr.  S.  G.  Howe.  The  former  came  to  the  Ever 
greens  to  find  out  concerning  his  condition,  and  the 
latter,  who  so  rarely  entered  any  house  but  his 
own,  wrote  Mrs.  Stearns  this  friendly  and  sym 
pathetic  letter: 

"  DEAR  MRS.  STEARNS  : 

"  I  hear,  with  much  concern,  that  your  husband  has  been, 
and  is,  quite  ill;  but  I  cannot  get  any  particulars.  I  am 
ailing,  or  I  should  go  out. 

"  If  he  is  seriously  ill,  please  let  me  know ;  especially  if 
you  think  that  I  can  be  of  any  use  by  watching,  or  in  any 
other  way. 

"  Give  my  kind  regards  to  him,  and  believe  me 
"  Very  truly  yours, 

"  SAML.  G.  HOWE 

"  Dec.  12,  '65." 

Dr.  Howe  certainly  was  not  the  cold,  calculating 
and  prosaic  American  of  whom  De  Tocqueville 
speaks.  His  wife  once  referred  to  him  as  a  "  heart 
of  flame  cast  on  the  ice  fields  of  a  century."  No 
wonder  if  his  friends  were  fond  of  him. 

At  the  next  symphony  concert  which  Mr.  Stearns 
attended,  Mrs.  Maria  Chapman,  the  "  born 
duchess,"  came  up  to  him  in  the  outer  hall  and 
extended  her  hand,  saying :  "  I  am  thankful, 
Major  Stearns,  to  see  you  on  your  feet  again ;  for 
I  feel  that  the  country  is  safer  for  it." 

While  he  was  convalescing  Mr.  Stearns  was  con 
tinually  thinking  over  the  political  situation,  and 
he  summed  up  the  result  of  this  on  January  20  in 
a  long  letter  to  Thomas  Dawes  Eliot,  member  of 

364 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Congress  from  New  Bedford,  in  which  we  find  the 
following  statement: 

"  Yours  of  the  i5th  inst.  was  received  in  course. 

"  I  hope  about  the  first  of  next  month  to  be  in  Washing 
ton,  but  in  the  meantime  will  state  what  course  the  Radical 
members  of  Congress  ought  to  pursue,  particularly  since 
the  glorious  vote  of  Thursday  has  developed  and  strength 
ened  the  true  sentiment  of  Congress  and  the  country. 

"  It  is  now  evident,  that  no  legislation  however  just  and 
stringent  will  coerce  the  Rebel  Majorities  into  decent  action, 
witness  Gov.  Brownlow's  recent  speech  to  the  colored  school 
in  Nashville,  and  the  popular  demonstrations  everywhere  at 
the  South. 

"  We  must  hold  them  by  the  strong  arm  of  power  to 
prevent  expatriation  of  loyal  white  men,  and  the  murder  of 
loyal  blacks. 

"  Government  must  do  this  by  the  passage  and  enforce 
ment  of  just  laws,  and  in  aid,  public  opinion  must  be 
informed  and  concentrated. 

"  To  enable  us  to  do  this  I  propose  the  following  plan  of 
organization : 

"  An  Association  of  Radical  Members  of  Congress,  not 
exceeding  ten  members  of  the  Senate,  and  thirty  of  the 
House  who  shall  agree  to  support  each  other  when  certain 
specified  measures  are  brought  forward;  any  differences  of 
opinion  to  be  settled  in  private. 

"  These  measures  to  form  a  series  culminating  in  impartial 
legislation  for  all  colors,  conditions,  and  classes. 

"  From  this  appreciation  in  Congress,  others  in  the 
Northern  States  would  eventually  arise  in  support  of  these 
measures,  and  a  newspaper  as  their  organ  be  established  in 
Washington  if  desirable,  or  what  would  I  think  be  more 
effective,  certain  leading  newspapers,  East  and  West,  could 
be  induced  to  give  their  constant  support  without  any 
expense  to  the  association. 

"  It  would  be  necessary  to  use  decided  efforts  to  establish 
and  extend  these  Associations  in  the  larger  cities,  but  that 
done,  they  would  spring  up  spontaneously  in  the  smaller 
cities,  towns  and  villages.  For  this  latter  purpose,  the 

365 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

Right  Way  with  its  circulation  of  over  60,000  would  be 
invaluable,  and  it  would  also  give  a  consistent  support  to 
the  measures  agreed  on. 

"  The  extensive  distribution  of  speeches  and  other  matter 
calculated  to  enlighten  and  inform  the  public  mind  could  be 
made  by  the  associations  in  the  various  states. 

"  I  have  submitted  this  plan  to  Gov.  Andrew  and  Hon. 
James  M.  Stone,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives; 
they  approve  and  will  support  it." 

During  the  past  three  months  John  C.  Hamilton 
of  New  York,  the  last  surviving  son  of  Alexander 
Hamilton,  had  written  a  number  of  letters  to  the 
Right  Way  supporting  Mr.  Stearns'  position  in 
regard  to  negro  citizenship,  and  quoting  largely 
from  the  writings  of  his  father.  Mr.  Stearns  wrote 
to  him  expressing  his  satisfaction  at  this,  and  his 
desire  for  a  personal  interview. 

On  February  2  Mr.  Stearns  took  the  morning 
train  to  New  York,  and  he  had  just  seated  himself 
to  dine  at  the  Brevoort  House,  when  John  C. 
Hamilton  came  in,  and  invited  him  to  dinner  the 
following  day.  A  pleasant  conversation  ensued, 
and  immediately  after  Mr.  Hamilton  had  left,  J. 
Miller  McKim  appeared.  He  wanted  to  know  if 
some  compromise  could  not  be  effected  between 
Mr.  Godkin  and  the  Boston  stockholders  of  the 
Nation.  Mr.  Stearns  replied  very  severely :  "  No 
compromise  is  possible  with  such  a  man  as  Mr. 
Godkin.  He  has  disappointed  us  repeatedly,  and 
either  he  must  resign  or  the  Boston  stockholders 
will  claim  their  capital."  Mr.  McKim  retired  with 
an  expression  of  discomfort. 

The  next  evening  at  Mr.  Hamilton's,  Mr. 
Stearns  made  quite  a  lengthy  discourse  on  the 

366 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

character  and  peculiarities  of  the  colored  race. 
He  called  the  negro  the  "  Yankee  of  the  South," 
and  alleged  that  though  he  was  not  so  intelligent  as 
the  Southern  white,  he  was  much  more  skilful  as  a 
mechanic,  and  more  practical  in  the  small  affairs 
of  life.*  He  told  some  amusing  anecdotes  of  the 
peculiar  effect  of  slavery  on  white  people,  which 
caused  great  merriment.  J.  C.  Hamilton  showed 
him  the  bust  of  his  father  by  a  French  artist,  which 
he  declared  was  the  only  worthy  likeness  of  the 
great  statesman ;  and  a  letter  from  President  Wash 
ington  thanking  Alexander  Hamilton  for  the  copy 
of  a  farewell  address,  presumably  the  one  he  deliv 
ered.  This  bust  of  Hamilton  resembles  those  of 
Scipio  Africanus. 

This  last  journey  to  Washington  was  almost  like 
a  triumphal  procession.  Mr.  Stearns  was  besieged 
in  New  York  and  Philadelphia  with  distinguished 
callers  and  invitations,  and  his  parlor  at  Willard's 
Hotel  became  a  rendezvous  for  senators  and  rep 
resentatives.  He  gave  no  more  dinners,  and  did 
not  usually  offer  them  cigars;  but  still  they  came. 
On  the  day  after  his  arrival  he  was  introduced  on 
the  floor  of  the  Senate,  where  Trumbull,  Wilson, 
and  a  number  of  other  senators  formed  a  circle 
about  him,  and  he  discussed  his  plan  of  organiza 
tion  with  them  for  nearly  two  hours.  Wilson  con 
sidered  the  Republican  party  to  be  in  a  dangerous 


*  The  best  coachman  the  Stearns  family  have  ever  had 
is  a  black  negro  named  William  Eliot, — and  a  man  who 
can  be  trusted  with  the  care  of  carriage  horses  certainly 
ought  to  have  the  right  to  vote. 

367 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

situation,  between  Andrew  Johnson  and  an  unpop 
ular  movement, — that  is,  negro  suffrage.  He 
thought  they  would  surely  lose  the  state  of  New 
York ;  and  so  they  did.  "  Don't  cry  baby  yet, 
Senator,"  said  Mr.  Stearns;  for  which  Wilson 
probably  did  not  like  him  any  the  better.  The  dull 
proceedings  of  the  Senate  were  going  on  all  this 
time. 

He  went  to  a  party  at  Colonel  Forney's,  to  which 
all  the  senators  and  the  Republican  members  of  the 
House  were  invited.  Old  Thaddeus  Stevens, 
unable  to  stand  long,  was  seated  in  a  corner  of  the 
large  hall,  with  a  brown  wig  on  his  head,  jet-black 
eyes,  and  a  face  of  parchment.  When  Mr.  Stearns 
addressed  him,  he  said  gruffly :  "  The  note  is  pro 
tested  Major,  and  comes  back  on  the  indorser," — 
referring  to  Mr.  Stearns'  October  letter  about  the 
President.  Mr.  Stearns  replied  laughing :  "  Well, 
the  indorser  is  good ;  "  and  the  audience  evidently 
thought  so  too.  Mr.  Stearns  made  no  indorsement 
of  Andrew  Johnson  in  the  October  letter,  and  that 
Thaddeus  Stevens  should  have  thought  so  was 
characteristic  of  a  man  who  always  insisted  that 
the  price  of  gold  could  be  regulated  by  legislation. 
What  impressed  Mr.  Stearns  most  strongly  in  this 
congregation  of  legislators  was  their  powerful 
physiques.  He  concluded  that  bodily  strength  was 
the  first  essential  to  success  in  political  life. 

He  was  also  cordially  welcomed  by  Chief  Justice 
Chase,  who  at  once  referred  to  the  October  letter 
and  said :  "  I  believe  that  at  the  time  you  saw  him, 
Johnson  was  really  sitting  on  the  fence,  and  now 
he  has  tumbled  over  into  a  ditch  on  the  wrong  side. 

368 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Well,  he  is  too  big  a  fool  to  laugh  at."  He  said 
that  no  person  of  importance  went  to  the  White 
House  that  could  possibly  avoid  doing  so ;  and  that 
the  President's  only  associates  were  news  report 
ers;  that  he  was  supposed  to  write  a  good  many 
newspaper  articles  himself. 

Chase  felt  very  badly  in  regard  to  Seward.  He 
had  lived  and  worked  beside  him  for  twenty  years, 
and  now  he  hated  to  meet  him  anywhere;  but  he 
added,  "  We  must  not  look  on  him  as  a  traitor. 
So  long  as  he  remains  in  the  cabinet  we  have  not 
much  to  fear  from  the  President." 

When  Chase  began  to  discuss  the  next  presiden 
tial  nomination,  Mr.  Stearns  said :  "  I  would  advise 
you,  Judge,  to  think  as  little  about  that  as  you  can. 
The  nomination  of  a  president  is  like  a  thunder 
bolt:  no  one  can  foresee  where  it  will  strike." 
There  could  be  no  better  exemplification  of  this 
truth  than  the  fact  that  General  Grant's  name  was 
not  mentioned  by  either  of  them.  At  the  Demo 
cratic  convention  of  1868  Chase  received  the  half 
of  a  vote. 

General  Garfield  was  one  of  the  most  frequent 
visitors  at  Mr.  Stearns'  rooms.  He  was  greatly 
interested  in  the  tariff  and  liked  to  discuss  that 
subject  with  Mr.  Stearns  as  a  practical  and 
unprejudiced  person.  George  L.  Stearns  held 
catholic  views  on  the  subject  of  free  trade  and  pro 
tection  ;  but  he  deprecated  a  general  change  in  the 
tariff  until  after  the  return  to  specie  payments. 
He  felt  an  exceptional  interest  in  this  brilliant  and 
high-minded  young  statesman  destined  to  so  tragi 
cal  a  fate. 

24  369 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

Mr.  Stearns  called  on  Hugh  McCulloch,  the 
secretary  of  the  treasury,  and  they  had  a  long 
discussion  together  on  the  return  to  specie  pay 
ments.  Mr.  McCulloch's  financial  ideas  were 
derived  neither  from  experience  nor  reasoning, 
but  from  writers  on  political  economy, — a  du 
bious  authority,  as  Mr.  Stearns  afterwards 
remarked.  He  believed  the  only  method  to 
bring  down  the  price  of  gold  was  to  contract 
the  currency.  Mr.  Stearns  told  him  that  if  he 
contracted  the  currency  he  would  create  dis 
turbance  at  the  mercantile  centres  and  cause 
distrust;  and  this  would  tend  to  raise  the  price 
of  gold  instead  of  lowering  it.  Two  years  later 
when  Secretary  McCulloch  tried  his  favorite 
scheme  it  had  the  effect  that  Mr.  Stearns  pre 
dicted.* 

Mr.  Stearns  remained  in  Washington  until  late 
in  March,  endeavoring  to  make  his  new  organiza 
tion  a  success.  He  found  difficulty,  however,  in 
raising  funds  for  its  expenses.  Jay  Cooke,  who 
had  promised  him  five  hundred  dollars,  begged 
off  with  three  hundred,  and  John  M.  Forbes  had 
become  too  much  Godkinized  to  render  him  much 
further  assistance.  He  was  greatly  pleased  to 
receive  an  unsolicited  contribution  from  the  author 

*  At  that  time  the  present  writer  published  a  letter  in 
the  Boston  Advertiser,  proving  by  figures  that  the  price  of 
gold  did  not  depend  on  the  amount  of  currency,  but  on  the 
good  credit  of  the  government.  In  1869  when  Congress 
enacted  to  have  the  United  States  bonds  payable  in  gold, 
the  price  of  the  metal  soon  after  declined  twenty  points  in 
spite  of  the  predictions  of  political  economists. 

370 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

of  "  Two  Years  Before  the  Mast,"  and  a  letter 
which  said: 

"My  DEAR  STEARNS: 

"  I  cannot  afford  much,  but  let  my  little  check  do  its  tiny 
work  for  circulation  of  your  excellent  documents. 
"  Yours   truly, 

"  RICHARD  H.  DANA,  JR." 

Mr.  Stearns  succeeded  in  forming  the  frame 
work  of  his  organization,  and  in  filling  this  in  at 
certain  points  and  places ;  but  he  found,  as  General 
Garfield  told  him,  that  he  would  have  to  run  the 
machine  himself  in  order  to  make  it  effective.  It 
was  a  work  like  his  recruiting  business,  and  he  had 
no  longer  the  means  nor  the  physical  strength  for 
it.  He  returned  to  Boston  to  concentrate  his 
energies  on  more  pressing  affairs.  On  April  6  he 
wrote  to  Miss  Jane  Swisshelm,  a  noted  philanthro 
pist  of  Washington : 

"  DEAR  MADAM  : 

"  Your  esteemed  letter  of  the  3d  is  at  hand.  Please  let 
me  know  how  many  papers  you  will  want  and  when  the 
subscriptions  expire;  for  I  wish  to  serve  you  if  I  can  prop 
erly  do  so. 

"  It  is  the  purpose  of  the  Right  Way  to  oppose  the  policy 
of  reconstruction  adopted  by  the  President,  as  dangerous 
to  the  peace  of  the  country  and  subversive  of  good  govern 
ment.  But  in  doing  this  we  intend  to  avoid  all  personal 
criticism,  because  we  do  not  believe  that  to  be  the  most 
effective  means. 

"We  have  entire  faith  in  the  judgment  of  the  masses, 
when  founded  on  sound  knowledge,  and  therefore  aim  to 
place  before  the  people  facts  and  arguments  pointing  in  the 
right  direction.  Any  aid  you  can  give  us  by  writing  letters 
from  Washington  will  be  very  acceptable." 

371 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Mr.  Stearns  did  not  live  to  see  negro  citizenship 
enacted,  but  no  one  except  Sumner  made  such 
strenuous  exertions  in  its  behalf.  Mr.  Pierce,  in 
his  life  of  Sumner,  gives  the  credit  of  its  accom 
plishment  wholly  to  the  Massachusetts  Senator, 
and  it  is  true  that  all  the  legislation  to  that  end 
originated  with  him  and  was  mainly  supported  by 
him;  but  Simmer's  influence  did  not  extend  much 
beyond  the  halls  of  Congress  and  it  was  Mr. 
Stearns'  patriotic  bureau  and  the  circulation  of 
the  Right  Way  which  influenced  public  opinion  in 
this  direction  and  thus  enabled  Sumner  to  take  the 
position  he  did;  and  Mr.  Stearns  accomplished 
this  almost  alone. 

Negro  suffrage  has  come  to  an  end  in  the  South 
ern  states  owing  to  the  inherent  weakness  of  the 
national  government;  but  it  served  its  purposes 
for  the  time  being,  to  protect  the  colored  people 
and  to  give  them  a  foothold  on  the  outskirts  of 
society.  It  proved  a  failure  in  South  Carolina,  as 
universal  suffrage  will  always  prove  a  failure  where 
the  illiterate  outnumber  the  educated;  but  the 
administration  of  Governor  Moses  was  not  more 
corrupt,  vulgar  and  besotted  than  that  of  the  Tweed 
ring  in  New  York  City  at  the  very  same  time.  It 
proved  a  failure  in  Louisiana,  because  there  the 
national  administration  made  use  of  it  in  a  fla 
grantly  partisan  manner.  It  certainly  did  little 
harm  in  other  Southern  states,  while  in  Pennsyl 
vania  and  Ohio  it  has  proved  an  element  of  sta 
bility,  and  a  support  to  the  national  credit. 


372 


XXIII 

REST  AT  LAST 

IT  was  time  that  Mr.  Stearns  returned  to  his 
home.  During  the  war  the  lead  companies  in  New 
York  had  been  making  immense  profits,  and  while 
George  L.  Stearns  had  been  spending  his  money 
to  save  the  country,  they  had  been  rolling  up 
wealth.  Now  that  the  war  fever  had  abated  the 
natural  reaction  took  place,  and  business  began  to 
languish.  Unfortunately  for  the  others  the  New 
York  Lead  Company  was  a  stock  company,  and 
the  besetting  sin  of  such  corporations  is  the  des 
perate  efforts  they  make  to  maintain  their  divi 
dends  at  all  hazards.  The  New  York  Company 
began  to  cut  prices,  and  to  encroach  on  the  territory 
of  its  neighbors.  This  resulted  in  a  "  lead  war," 
which  raged  for  nearly  three  years,  until  those 
engaged  in  it  had  lost  nearly  all  the  money  that 
they  had  previously  made. 

Since  January  Mr.  Stearns  had  been  living  on 
his  capital ;  and  this  at  first  gave  him  no  uneasiness, 
because  he  did  not  believe  the  lead  war  would  be  of 
long  duration.  While  he  was  in  New  York,  how 
ever,  the  following  May  he  made  successive  calls 
on  the  different  manufacturers,  and  attempted  to 
bring  about  a  reconciliation;  but  he  found  such 
bitterness  of  feeling  and  determined  animosity 
among  them,  that  he  concluded  the  trouble  was  a 
deep-seated  one,  which  only  time  and  experience 

373 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

could  remedy.  On  his  return  to  Boston  he  tried 
to  obtain  funds  to  carry  on  his  work,  of  educating 
the  public  up  to  negro  citizenship,  by  speculating 
on  the  price  of  gold.  His  business  required  him  to 
make  continual  purchases  of  gold,  so  that  what 
he  did  now  was  merely  an  amplification  of  his  gen 
eral  practice.  It  is  doubtful  if  he  would  have  taken 
this  risk  on  his  own  account. 

A  photograph  taken  of  Mr.  Stearns  at  this 
time  shows  him  in  a  depleted  physical  and  nervous 
condition.  He  has  a  haggard  look  in  it,  and  his 
eyes  a  fixed  expression,  indicating  plainly  a  state 
of  nervous  tension.  Rev.  Samuel  Johnson  met  him 
on  the  street,  when  he  was  perhaps  somewhat 
fatigued,  and  was  shocked  at  his  appearance.  He 
warned  Mr.  Stearns  that  he  was  exhausting  his 
vitality,  and  that  he  ought  to  go  off  on  a  journey 
and  leave  his  affairs  to  take  care  of  themselves. 
"  Go  to  Switzerland  with  your  wife,  and  spend  the 
summer  there."  Mr.  Stearns  was  not  the  man  to 
neglect  advice  from  such  a  source ;  but  he  knew  that 
his  wife  would  not  cross  the  ocean ;  and  what  rest 
could  he  find  if  he  went  alone?  He  determined  to 
stay  at  home,  and  keep  as  quiet  as  his  restless  dis 
position  would  permit.  What  he  had  accomplished 
seemed  of  little  value  to  him.  He  looked  forward 
continually  to  fresh  victories. 

One  small  comfort  which  he  enjoyed  at  this 
time  was  his  son's  success  in  fighting  and  defeating 
the  Harvard  Faculty.  Three  members  of  the  class 
of  1867  had  established  the  first  college  newspaper 
at  Harvard,  but  this  was  suppressed  by  the  Faculty 
for  mild  criticism  of  the  reserved  and  frosty  man- 

374 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

ners  of  certain  professors.  Thereupon  Stearns  and 
Peckham  and  Fox  of  the  same  class  published  the 
same  paper  under  a  different  name  at  the  Right 
Way  office  in  Boston,  and  appealed  to  the  Board 
of  Overseers  for  support.  Their  arguments  were 
too  strong  to  be  resisted,  and  free  college 
journalism  was  then  and  there  established.  Mr. 
Stearns  was  very  much  pleased.  He  helped  to 
defray  the  expense  of  the  first  number  of  the 
Advocate,  as  the  paper  was  called,  and  offered  to 
give  further  assistance;  but  this  did  not  become 
necessary.* 

Mrs.  Stearns  was  more  of  an  invalid  this  sum 
mer  than  at  any  other  time  in  her  life.  For  days 
she  remained  in  her  room  with  darkened  windows, 
— the  trouble  being  perhaps  more  with  her  homoeo 
pathic  doctor  than  herself.  On  July  10  her  hus 
band  wrote  her  this  note  from  his  office  in  Boston : 

"  MY  DEAR  LITTLE  SICK  GIRL  : 

"  Hamlet  will  take  this  out  to  you  at  11.30,  with  a  bunch 
of  Hamburg  grapes  to  alleviate  the  tedium  of  this  sultry 
day;  and  when  I  return  at  3  P.M.  I  shall  hope  to  find  you 
much  improved  by  them.  There  is  no  news,  no  politics,  no 
business.  All  the  world  stagnates,  and  perhaps  it  is  better 
for  us  just  now  that  it  is  so. 

"  Your  loving  husband  GEORGE." 

A  husband  could  not  be  more  devoted  than  he 
was.  Frank  Bird  wanted  him  to  go  to  the  Adiron- 
dacks  and  fish  trout,  and  this  would  have  been 
as  good  a  remedy  for  him  as  Switzerland,  but 

*  This  periodical  still  continues  to  flourish,  and  counts 
among  its  past  editors  many  distinguished  names, — Senator 
Lodge  and  President  Roosevelt. 

375 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

he  could  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  leave  his  wife, — 
except  for  patriotic  reasons.  He  even  sent  away 
his  youngest  son  (who  was  a  perpetual  teaser) 
for  the  summer,  in  order  that  she  might  enjoy 
more  perfect  rest.  Mr.  Stearns  belonged  to  that 
class,  of  whom  Dr.  Holmes  speaks,  who'  never 
know  that  they  are  sick  until  they  are  dead. 

Early  in  September  a  convention  of  Southern 
loyalists  and  their  Northern  friends  was  held  at 
Philadelphia,  and  Mr.  Stearns  was  invited  to  attend 
it.  Not  feeling  able  to  go,  he  wrote  them  a  letter, 
which  was  received  with  great  applause  and  re 
ported  in  all  the  Republican  papers.  His  excoria 
tion  of  President  Johnson  is,  however,  the  most 
interesting  portion  of  it  now.  He  said : 

"  So  long  as  he  remained  in  Tennessee,  keeping  at  bay 
the  rebels  who  surrounded  and  threatened  him  on  all  sides, 
Andrew  Johnson  was  emphatically  a  '  Radical/  holding  the 
doctrine  that  ex-rebels  should  be  excluded  from  all  share 
in  the  Government;  and  when  Mr.  Lincoln's  amnesty  proc 
lamation  was  received  at  Nashville,  he  declared  that  the 
Unionists  would  be  driven  from  the  state  if  rebels  were 
allowed  to  resume  their  rights  of  property  and  franchise  by 
taking  that  oath.  He  immediately  issued  a  stringent  procla 
mation  of  his  own,  requiring,  in  addition  to  the  oath  pre 
scribed  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  one  of  his  own,  which  excluded  all 
who  had  given  aid  and  comfort  to  the  Rebellion.  Under 
these  proclamations  the  first  municipal  elections  were 
carried  by  the  Union  men,  none  others,  whether  pardoned  or 
not,  being  allowed  to  vote," 

And  again  he  paints  the  Andrew  Johnson  of 
1866: 

"  Thus  we  have  before  us  two  Andrew  Johnsons, — one 
as  Military  Governor  of  Tennessee,  supporting  the  loyal 

376 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Unionists  there,  and  being  supported  by  them  in  return; 
the  other  as  President  of  the  United  States,  surrounded  by 
rebels  and  other  enemies  of  the  Republic,  receiving  their 
support  and  giving  them  aid  and  countenance  in  return. 
Immediately  after  the  passage  of  the  constitutional  amend 
ment  for  the  admission  of  states  lately  in  rebellion,  the 
President's  influence  was  used  to  defeat  its  adoption  in 
the  Legislature  of  Tennessee,  by  withdrawing  a  number 
of  members  sufficient  to  prevent  a  quorum,  although  the 
President  had  reason  to  believe  that  its  ratification  would 
be  followed  by  the  admission  of  her  delegation  to  Congress. 
The  aid  given  by  his  order  to  rebels  concerned  in  the 
New  Orleans  massacre  stands  in  terrible  contrast  to  the 
care  and  kindness  extended  by  him  to  colored  people  in 
Nashville  two  years  ago." 

Mr.  Stearns  was  in  New  York  City  at  the  time 
of  the  November  elections,  and  may  have  gone 
there  to  assist  the  cause.  Connecticut  went  Demo 
cratic,  and  a  number  of  Republican  congressmen 
in  trivial  communities  also  lost  their  seats, — not 
that  their  constituents  loved  Johnson  more,  but 
because  they  liked  negro  suffrage  less.  Mr.  Stearns 
wrote  to  his  wife  two  days  later: 

"  Connecticut  has  gone  to  the  bow-wows  and  nobody 
cares  for  her.  I  suppose  Wilson  will  consider  that  his 
gloomy  predictions  have  been  verified,  but  I  am  not  dissat 
isfied  with  the  election.  We  cannot  expect  public  opinion 
to  recognize  the  rights  of  the  negro  at  a  single  jump.  It 
will  require  time ;  and  meanwhile  the  Republicans  have  a 
solid  two-thirds  majority  to  oppose  Andrew  Johnson  in 
both  houses  of  Congress." 

The  result  verified  Mr.  Stearns'  arguments  on 
the  floor  of  the  Senate  nine  months  before;  and 
perhaps  no  other  person's  hand  was  so  conspicuous 
in  this.  He  was  obliged,  however,  to  discontinue 

377 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OP 

the  further  publication  of  the  Right  Way  from 
lack  of  sufficient  funds.  Fresh  reverses  had  come 
upon  him.  A  sudden  decline  in  the  price  of  gold 
in  September  had  cost  him  ten  thousand  dollars ; 
and  about  the  same  time  he  learned  that  his  South 
ern  plantations,  which  had  prospered  so  well  the 
preceding  year,  were  now  a  complete  failure.  Sev 
eral  small  investments,  which  he  had  made  to 
assist  his  friends,  also  turned  out  badly.  Fortune 
had  set  herself  against  him,  and  George  L.  Stearns 
began  to  feel  poor. 

Now  for  the  first  time  he  consulted  with  his  sons, 
and  they  agreed  with  him  that  it  would  be  well  to 
dispose  of  the  Medford  estate  and  live  in  a  more 
economical  manner  for  the  next  few  years.  The 
revolutionary  period  had  passed,  and  there  was  no 
reason  why  the  Stearns  family  should  not  return 
to  society  again.  Mrs.  Stearns,  however,  opposed 
this  so  strongly  that  he  decided  to  relinquish  the 
design.  He  took  his  son  away  from  the  Scientific 
School,  and  placed  him  in  charge  of  the  Medford 
estate  with  directions  to  run  it  in  an  economical 
manner,  and  make  the  green-house  pay  for  itself, 
if  possible.  He  remarked  that  this  would  do  the 
boy  more  good  than  studying. 

This  may  have  seemed  hard  to  him  after  so 
much  generosity,  but  such  is  the  common  fate  of 
the  brave  and  generous ;  and  he  had  kept  the  vow 
that  he  made  at  Niagara  Falls  on  December  2, 
1859.  He  had  kept  it  through  eight  years  of 
incessant  toil. 

So,  the  autumn  passed  away  and  winter  came  on 
winter  that  has  not  yet  turned  to  spring. 
378 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Wendell  Phillips  came  to  dine  with  Mr.  Stearns 
on  New  Year's  Day,  1867,  and  a  pleasant  occasion 
it  was.  There  was  a  slight  air  of  melancholy  in 
his  manner,  which  with  his  personal  beauty  and 
gift  of  speech,  made  him  a  very  attractive  com 
panion.  They  talked  about  Emerson;  and  Mr. 
Stearns  remarked  that  the  finest  point  in  his  char 
acter  was  its  perfect  equipoise.  "  Yes,"  said  Mr. 
Phillips,  "  I  think  it  is  to  that  chiefly  that  he  owes 
his  success;  and  yet  he  always  seemed  to  me  to 
over-estimate  the  importance  of  his  native  place. 
I  am  fond  of  Boston,  but  I  do  not  consider  it  the 
greatest  city  in  the  world." 

Then  I  said :  "  Mr.  Emerson  was  the  first  per 
son  to  inform  me  that  Judge  Hoar's  son  had  failed 
in  the  Harvard  examinations,  and  he  spoke  of  it 
as  if  it  were  a  local  calamity.  When  I  asked  him 
about  another  school-mate  who  was  examined  at 
the  same  time,  Mr.  Emerson  said :  '  He  is  only  an 
Acton  farmer's  boy :  nobody  cares  for  him.' " 

Mr.  Stearns  looked  at  Mr.  Phillips,  and  Mrs. 
Stearns  said: 

"  That  is  not  much  like — 

'  The  musing  peasant  lowly  great 
Beside  the  forest  water  sat/ " 

"No,"  said  Mr.  Phillips,  "it  is  not;  but  the 
crowning  honor  of  Emerson  is  that  after  having 
talked  about  heroism  for  so  many  years,  when  the 
hero,  John  Brown,  came  he  knew  him." 

He  spoke  of  Webster  as  the  admiration  of  his 
youth,  and  of  Whittier's  ballads  as  the  most  genu 
ine  American  poetry.  He  envied  him  his  "  Bar- 

379 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

bara  Frietchie  " — he  wished  he  could  have  written 
that  himself. 

It  was  Mrs.  Stearns  who  suggested  the  Cretan 
expedition.  Crete  had  been  excepted  from  the 
treaty  which  liberated  the  other  Greeks  from 
Turkish  rule,  and  now  it  was  in  a  state  of  frantic 
rebellion.  That  Mr.  Stearns  should  have  seized 
on  this  idea  and  encouraged  it,  would  seem  to  indi 
cate  a  kind  of  desperation  in  the  precarious  condi 
tion  of  his  affairs.  But  it  may  have  been  the 
instinct  of  self-preservation  that  was  leading  him. 
If  he  could  go  to  Europe  with  Dr.  Howe,  he  would 
have  an  entertaining  companion  and  a  devoted 
friend,  who  would  care  for  him  by  day  and  by 
night.  If  they  could  have  taken  the  next  steamer 
to  England  all  might  have  been  well. 

Howe  had  already  thought  of  the  Cretans,  but 
alone  and  at  his  age  he  felt  as  if  it  would  be  too 
much  of  an  undertaking.  "  We  should  make  a 
strong  team/'  he  said  in  reply  to  Mr.  Stearns'  prop 
osition.  They  went  to  New  York  together  and 
succeeded  in  raising  a  considerable  sum  there  for 
the  Cretans ;  although  Mr.  Stearns  did  not  feel  able 
to  give  anything  himself.  All  prospects  for  their 
expedition  seemed  to  be  favorable,  when,  in  less 
than  two  weeks,  information  came  to  Mr.  Stearns 
which  decided  him  to  remain  in  America. 

A  dreamy  young  clerk,  named  Shaw,  in  the 
employ  of  the  New  York  Lead  Company,  had  in 
vented  an  ingenious  process  for  lining  lead  pipe 
with  tin.  He  found  that  by  placing  a  cylinder 
of  tin,  chilled  to  a  certain  temperature,  inside  the 
lead  press  the  two  metals  could  be  made  to  unite 

380 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

in  a  favorable  manner,  and  could  be  squeezed  out 
together  in  a  solid  composition.  Mr.  Shaw  formed 
a  company  with  two  friends,  and  sent  samples  of 
the  new  pipe  to  the  various  dealers. 

As  soon  as  Mr.  Stearns  saw  it,  he  recognized 
that  if  this  new  invention  proved  a  success,  and 
there  seemed  to  be  no  reason  why  it  should  not,  it 
would  revolutionize  the  lead  business  in  both 
America  and  Europe.  It  would  obviate  the  danger 
of  lead  poisoning,  and  the  greater  tenacity  of  the 
tin  would  enable  it  to  bear  a  heavier  pressure  for 
the  same  weight  than  ordinary  lead  pipe.  Under 
such  circumstances  it  would  not  be  prudent  for 
Mr.  Stearns  to  leave  the  country  and  he  begged  off 
from  the  Cretan  expedition  much  to  Dr.  Howe's 
regret. 

He  went  to  New  York  again  and  sought  out 
Mr.  Shaw.  The  Tathams  and  others  had  dispar 
aged  his  invention,  but  Mr.  Stearns  praised  it  to  its 
full  value.  Mr.  Shaw  and  his  friends  were  glad 
to  have  Mr.  Stearns  for  an  ally,  and  it  was  agreed 
to  form  a  large  stock  company  which  should  operate 
in  all  the  principal  cities.  Much  time  was  spent  in 
testing  the  new  pipe,  and  Mr.  Stearns  went  to 
New  York  repeatedly  during  the  winter. 

On  the  afternoon  of  April  4  Mrs.  Stearns  re 
ceived  a  telegram  saying  that  her  husband  was 
seriously  ill  with  pneumonia  at  the  Brevoort  House. 
She  went  to  him  that  night,  taking  her  Boston 
doctor  with  her.  This,  however,  proved  an  unfor 
tunate  circumstance;  for  Dr.  Payne  immediately 
offended  the  New  York  doctor,  whom  Mr.  Stearns 
had  engaged  with  the  last  words  he  could  speak, 

381 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

and  supplied  his  place  with  an  aged  homoeopath 
named  Bayard,  who  only  came  once  a  day  and  took 
little  interest  in  the  case.  He  did  nothing  for  Mr. 
Stearns,  except  to  leave  him  a  little  tasteless  medi 
cine,  probably  belladonna;  and  after  lingering  for 
four  days  in  this  manner,  on  April  9,  at  five  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  George  L.  Stearns  ceased  to 
breathe.  The  case  was  not  a  severe  one,  and  a 
little  champagne  or  brandy  might  have  saved  him. 

To  the  last  he  thought  of  others  more  than  of 
himself.  The  day  before  his  death,  he  noticed  that 
the  weather  was  fine,  and  he  wanted  his  wife  to 
go  out  to  walk  in  Washington  Square.  He  never 
complained,  nor  showed  the  least  fear  of  death. 
Like  John  Brown,  he  died  in  absolute  faith  of  an 
immortal  life. 

Dr.  Howe  was  in  Athens  with  Judge  Conway, 
when  he  received  the  fatal  intelligence,  and  he 
said  at  once :  "  If  Stearns  had  come  with  us  this 
would  not  have  happened." 

The  funeral  services  were  performed  at  Mr. 
Stearns'  residence  in  Medford,  and  Rev.  Samuel 
Longfellow  officiated  in  a  manner  which  plainly 
showed  how  deeply  he  felt  the  loss  of  his  friend. 
His  prayer  was  like  a  religious  poem.  Then  Emer 
son  was  requested  to  speak,  which  he  did  in  his 
deliberate  philosophical  way.  He  referred  to  Mr. 
Stearns'  "romantic  generosity;"  and  considered 
him  fortunate  to  die  before  he  became  old  for  a 
number  of  reasons,  and  among  others  because  "  he 
would  not  live  to  see  his  sons  waiting  to  occupy 
his  shoes."  It  was  a  relief  to  the  assembled  mourn 
ers  when  Theophilus  Parsons  arose,  and  said  with 

382 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

true  warmth  of  feeling :  "  Major  Stearns'  life  and 
character  were  a  revelation  to  me.  I  had  been  so 
accustomed  to  see  public  services  united  with  per 
sonal  ambition,  that  I  had  almost  come  to  think 
that  the  two  were  inseparable;  but  in  Major  Stearns 
I  found  a  man  who  wanted  absolutely  nothing 
for  himself.  He  did  not  even  wish  to  be  praised  for 
what  he  accomplished.  In  him  I  have  lost  my 
truest  friend,  and  America  her  best  patriot." 

Fifty  mourners  accompanied  George  L.  Stearns 
to  his  last  resting  place  in  Mt.  Auburn  cemetery. 

Rev.  E.  C.  Towne,  who  was  pastor  of  the  First 
Parish  church  in  Medford  at  the  time,  gave  a 
memorial  service  the  following  Sunday,  and  in 
vited  R.  W.  Emerson  to  assist  him. 

Emerson  at  first  declined  on  account  of  the  dis 
tance,  but  immediately  afterward  accepted  because 
he  considered  it  "  a  duty  that  could  not  be  set 
aside."  After  briefly  reviewing  Mr.  Stearns'  pub 
lic  services,  he  said : 

"  I  have  heard,  what  must  be  true,  that  George 
L.  Stearns  had  great  executive  skill,  a  clear  method, 
and  a  just  attention  to  all  the  details  of  the  task 
in  hand.  Plainly  he  was  no  boaster  or  pretender, 
but  a  man  for  up-hill  work,  a  soldier  to  bide  the 
brunt;  a  man  whom  disasters,  which  dishearten 
other  men,  only  stimulated  to  new  courage  and  en 
deavor. 

"  I  have  heard  something  of  his  quick  temper : 
that  he  was  indignant  at  this  or  that  man's  be 
havior,  but  never  that  his  anger  outlasted  for  a 
moment  the  mischief  done  or  threatened  to  the  good 
cause,  or  ever  stood  in  the  way  of  his  hearty  co- 

383 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

operation  with  the  offenders,  when  they  returned 
to  the  path  of  public  duty.  I  look  upon  him  as 
a  type  of  the  American  republican.  A  man  of  the 
people,  in  strictly  private  life,  girt  with  family 
ties;  an  active  and  intelligent  manufacturer  and 
merchant,  enlightened  enough  to  see  a  citizen's 
interest  in  the  public  affairs,  and  virtuous  enough 
to  obey  to  the  uttermost  the  truth  he  saw, — he  be 
came,  in  the  most  natural  manner,  an  indispensable 
power  in  the  state.  Without  such  vital  support 
as  he,  and  such  as  he,  brought  to  the  government, 
where  would  that  government  be?  When  one 
remembers  his  incessant  service;  his  journeys  and 
residences  in  many  states;  the  societies  he  worked 
with ;  the  councils  in  which  he  sat ;  the  wide  corre 
spondence,  presently  enlarged  by  printed  circulars, 
then  by  newspapers  established  wholly  or  partly  at 
his  own  cost;  the  useful  suggestions;  the  celerity 
with  which  his  purpose  took  form;  and  his  im 
movable  convictions, — I  think  this  single  will  was 
worth  to  the  cause  ten  thousand  ordinary  partisans, 
well-disposed  enough,  but  of  feebler  and  inter 
rupted  action. 

"  Almost  I  am  ready  to  say  to  these  mourners, 
Be  not  too  proud  in  your  grief,  when  you  remem 
ber  that  there  is  not  a  town  in  the  remote  State 
of  Kansas,  that  will  not  weep  with  you  at  the 
loss  of  its  founder;  not  a  Southern  state,  in  which 
the  freedmen  will  not  learn  to-day  from  their 
preachers  that  one  of  their  most  efficient  bene 
factors  has  departed,  and  will  cover  his  memory 
with  benedictions;  and  that,  after  all  his  efforts 
to  serve  men  without  appearing  to  do  so,  there 

384 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

is  hardly  a  man  in  this  country  worth  knowing 
who  does  not  hold  his  name  in  exceptional  honor. 
And  there  is  to  my  mind  somewhat  so  absolute  in 
this  action  of  a  good  man,  that  we  do  not,  in  think 
ing  of  him,  so  much  as  make  any  question  of  the 
future.  For  the  Spirit  of  the  Universe  seems  to 
say:  '  He  has  done  well;  is  not  that  saying  all?  '  " 
This  is  valuable  as  indicating  the  side  of  George 
L.  Stearns'  character  that  appealed  chiefly  to  Emer 
son  ;  but  it  was  a  small  part  of  the  man.  Emerson 
made  his  life  deliberately  a  work  of  art :  Mr.  Stearns 
was  never  aware  how  noble,  how  magnificent  * 
his  own  life  was.  Whittier  was  one  of  the  few  who 
appreciated  this,  and  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  for 
May,  1867,  he  published  this  admirable  poem: 

"G.  L.  S. 

"  He  has  done  the  work  of  a  true  man, — 

Crown  him,  honor  him,  love  him. 
Weep  over  him,  tears  of  woman, 
Stoop  manliest  brows  above  him ! 

"  O,  dusky  mothers  and  daughters, 

Vigils  of  mourning  keep  for  him! 
Up  in  the  mountains  and  down  by  the  waters, 
Lift  up  your  voices  and  weep  for  him ! 

"  For  the  warmest  of  hearts  is  frozen, 

The  freest  of  hands  is  still ; 
And  the  gap  in  our  picked  and  chosen 
The  long  years  may  not  fill. 

"  No  duty  could  overtask  him, 

No  need  his  will  outrun ; 
Or  ever  our  lips  could  ask  him, 
His  hands  the  work  had  done. 

*  Helen  Hunt,  the  poetess,  spoke  of  him  as  "  that  mag 
nificent  Mr.  Stearns." 

25  385 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

"  He  forgot  his  own  soul  for  others, 
Himself  to  his  neighbor  lending; 
He  found  the  Lord  in  his  suffering  brothers, 
And  not  in  the  clouds  descending. 

"  So  the  bed  was  sweet  to  die  on, 

Whence  he  saw  the  doors  wide  swung 
Against  whose  bolted  iron 
The  strength  of  his  life  was  flung. 

"  And  he  saw  ere  his  eye  was  darkened 

The  sheaves  of  the  harvest  bringing, 
And  knew  while  his  ear  yet  hearkened 
The  voice  of  the  reapers  singing. 

"  Ah,  well ! — the  world  is  discreet ; 

There  are  plenty  to  pause  and  wait; 
But  here  was  a  man  who  set  his  feet 
Sometimes  in  advance  of  fate, — 

"  Plucked  off  the  old  bark  when  the  inner 

Was  slow  to  renew  it, 
And  put  to  the  Lord's  work  the  sinner 
When  saints  failed  to  do  it. 

"  Never  rode  to  the  wrong's   redressing 

A  worthier  paladin. 
Shall  he  not  hear  the  blessing, 
'  Good  and  faithful,  enter  in !  * ' 

What  celebrity  is  equal  to  such  a  requiem  as 
this!  George  L.  Stearns  was  the  Sir  Galahad  of 
the  antislavery  struggle — the  stainless  knight  on 
whom  alone  the  mantle  of  purity  could  rest  with 
ease  and  grace.  He  was  a  true  poetic  subject, 
and  there  was  no  other  to  whom  these  verses  would 
apply  in  such  full  measure. 

When  a  chief  dies  in  an  Indian  encampment 
his  neighbors  seize  on  everything  he  owned,  unless 
his  squaw,  or  widow,  has  some  strong  relative  to 

386 


GEORGE    LINDSLEY    STEARNS 
Grandson  of  George   Luther  Stearns 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

protect  her;  and  something  much  like  this  hap 
pened  after  Mr.  Stearns'  death.  Powerful  capital 
ists  seized  on  his  business,  and  the  citizens  of 
Medford  voted  away  a  piece  of  land,  which  be 
longed  to  his  estate,  for  the  benefit  of  a  man  who 
kept  a  trotting  park.  His  sons,  whom  he  had  left 
without  the  means  of  studying  a  profession,  were 
never  able  to  obtain  the  smallest  clerkship  in  the 
city  which  their  father  had  so  much  honored. 
"  Take  care  of  my  wife  and  children,"  said  Arnold 
Winkelried,  when  he  threw  himself  on  the  Austrian 
spears  at  Sempach;  and  what  encouragement  can 
a  patriotic  man  have  to  sacrifice  himself  for  his 
country,  unless  this  is  remembered.  There  were 
many  similar  cases  in  those  days. 

Mr.  Stearns'  public  work  was  not  of  a  character 
to  attract  the  public  eye.  There  were  no  impres 
sive  dramatic  effects  in  it,  like  the  mobbing  of 
Garrison  or  the  assault  on  Sumner ;  and  it  is  these 
chiefly  that  make  men  celebrated.  Andrew,  Chase, 
Sumner  and  Wilson  soon  followed  him  to  the 
grave;  and  a  new  generation  came  upon  the  stage 
who  knew  him  not.  His  name  was  not  mentioned 
in  the  crop  of  ephemeral  histories  which  sprang 
up  after  the  Civil  War;  and  a  biographical  sketch 
of  him,  which  Mr.  Sanborn  sent  to  Appleton's 
Cyclopaedia,  was  returned  on  the  ground  that  Mr. 
Stearns  was  a  private  citizen, — that  is,  because  he 
had  no  title.  In  the  war  papers  published  by  the 
Century  Company,  the  work  that  Major  Stearns 
did  was  ascribed  entirely  to  others.  A  well  written, 
dignified  biography  might  have  prevented  this, 
but  for  some  unaccountable  reason  Mrs.  Stearns 

387 


THE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

objected  to  having  one  published,  and  would  never 
permit  it  so  long  as  she  lived. 

Time,  however,  winnows  the  wheat  from  the 
chaff.  In  1897  a  monument  was  erected  on  Boston 
Common  to  the  memory  of  Colonel  Shaw,  the 
commander  of  the  Fifty-fourth  Massachusetts 
regiment,  who  was  killed  at  Fort  Wagner,  and  at 
the  celebration  of  that  occasion  Booker  T.  Wash 
ington,  the  eloquent  colored  president  of  Tuskegee 
College,  made  an  address  in  which  he  attributed 
the  credit  of  organizing  the  colored  regiments 
where  it  properly  belonged,  to  George  L.  Stearns. 

Following  close  upon  this  Joseph  H.  Smith,  one 
of  the  veterans  of  the  Fifty-fourth,  started  a  move 
ment  to  have  a  tablet  placed  in  the  state-house 
at  Boston,  commemorative  of  Major  Stearns'  ser 
vices  and  sacrifices  for  the  republic.  This  was  sup 
ported  by  prominent  Republicans,  and  carried 
through  at  once, — as  appears  by  the  following 
resolution : 

COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

In  the  Year  One  Thousand  Eight  Hundred  and 
Ninety-seven. 


RESOLVE 

To   Provide   for  a  Tablet  in   Memory  of  the  late 
Major   George  Luther   Stearns. 

Resolved,  That  the  state  house  construction  commissioners 
are  hereby  directed  to  cause  a  tablet,  suitably  inscribed, 
to  be  placed  in  Memorial  Hall  or  in  such  other  part  of  the 
state  house  as  they  may  determine,  in  honor  of  the  late 
Major  George  Luther  Stearns,  for  the  purpose  of  commem 
orating  the  part  taken  by  him  in  securing  the  enlistment  of 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

colored  troops,  and  the  other  valuable  services  rendered  by 
him  to  the  United  States  and  to  this  Commonwealth  in 
the  war  of  the  rebellion. 

House  of  Representatives,  May  12,  1897. 
Passed.  JOHN  L.  BATES,  Speaker. 

In  Senate,  May  13,  1897. 

GEO.  P.  LAWRENCE,  President. 
Passed.     May  14,  1897.  Approved  •     ROGER  WOLCOTT. 

Governor  Wolcott,  with  characteristic  courtesy, 
sent  Mrs.  Stearns  a  copy  of  the  Resolve  together 
with  the  quill  with  which  he  signed  it.  The  sec 
retary  of  state,  however,  invidiously  neglected  to 
notify  the  state-house  commissioners  in  due  time, 
so  that  the  act  was  permitted  to  lapse,  and  the 
tablet  was  not  set  in  position.  The  government 
of  Massachusetts  was  thus  openly  defied,  until  in 
1901  the  legislature  reenacted  the  former  Resolve. 

The  tablet  bears  this  inscription: 

IN  MEMORIAM 
GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

A  Merchant  of  Boston 

Who  illustrated  in  his  life  and  character 

The  nobility  and  generosity  of 

Citizenship. 
Giving  his  life  and  fortune  for  the 

Overthrow  of  slavery  and  the 

Preservation   of   free   institutions. 

To  his  unresting  devotion  and  unfailing  hope 

Massachusetts  owes 
The  fifty-fourth  and  fifty-fifth  regiments 

of  colored  infantry, 
And  the  federal  government  ten  thousand 

colored  troops, 
At  a  critical  moment  in  the  great  war. 

In  the  darkest  hour  of  the  republic 
His  faith  in  the  people  never  wavered. 

389 


GEORGE  LUTHER  STEARNS 

Of  him,  Whittier  wrote: 

"  No  duty  could  overtask  him ; 

No  need  his  will  outrun; 
Or  ever  our  lips  could  ask  him; 
His   hands   the   work   had   done." 

"  A  man  who  asked  not  to  be  great ; 
But  as  he  served  and  saved  the  state." 

Born   in   Medford,   Massachusetts,   January   8, 
1809. 

Died  April  9,  1867. 


APPENDIX 

A 

Charles  Robinson  was  the  first  state  governor  of 
Kansas,  but  he  retired  from  office  with  a  somewhat 
clouded  reputation,*  and  his  evidence  before  the 
Harper's  Ferry  investigating  committee  was  so 
irrelevant  and  transparently  concocted  that  a  large 
portion  of  it  was  thrown  out  by  a  vote  of  the  com 
mittee.  The  most  singular  part  of  this  is  that 
Robinson  was  the  first  prominent  person  in  Kansas 
to  solicit  arms  from  Amos  A.  Lawrence  and  others 
in  Boston,  and  to  endorse  John  Brown  five  months 
after  the  lynching  at  Pottawatomie.  We  notice 
that  Professor  Blackmar  has  omitted  this  letter  to 
John  Brown  from  his  biography  of  Governor 
Robinson,  which  hardly  seems  fair  to  Kansas  his 
tory;  but  we  are  obliged  to  him  for  informing 
us  (p.  280)  that  Robinson  represented  to  the 
government  in  September,  1861,  that  the  chief 
danger  to  Kansas  arose  from  the  fact  that  General 
Lane,  who  was  then  senator,  had  command  of  the 
United  States  forces  at  Fort  Scott.  Lane's  char 
acter  was  not  much  better  than  Robinson's,  but  he 
was  decidedly  the  ablest  man  in  Kansas,  and  it  was 
wholly  owing  to  him  and  George  L.  Stearns  that 
there  was  an  army  for  the  defence  of  Kansas. 
Under  the  circumstances  there  was  no  one  else  that 
President  Lincoln  could  appoint,  and  Robinson's 

*  Blackmar's  biography,  p.  288. 
391 


APPENDIX 

letter  to  Fremont  can  only  be  considered  as  a 
mischievous  intrigue.  The  present  writer  spent  the 
summer  of  1862  in  Kansas  and  at  that  time  Rob 
inson  was  at  loggerheads  with  all  the  prominent 
men  in  his  own  party.  Although  he  professed 
peace  principles,  and  a  conciliatory  policy,  he  was 
exactly  the  reverse  of  this  himself.  He  was  not 
only  contentious,  but  his  sharp  criticism  of  others 
sometimes  gave  great  offence.  He  reflected  so 
severely  on  Judge  Conway  in  a  public  address  that 
Conway  undertook  to  horsewhip  him  for  it;  but 
Robinson  being  a  much  larger  and  stronger  man 
took  the  whip  away  from  him,  and  treated  him 
otherwise  in  a  forbearing  manner.  Robinson  was 
a  useful  man  in  his  way. 

B 

Mrs.  Anna  S.  Eldredge,  the  granddaughter  of 
Jefferson's  physician,  relates  that  shortly  after  Lin 
coln's  inauguration  General  George  H.  Thomas 
went  to  visit  his  family  at  Norfolk,  Virginia.  He 
had  two  sisters  there,  one  of  them  considered  a 
person  of  rare  intellect,  but  his  wife  kept  such  close 
watch  over  him  that  they  never  found  the  least 
opportunity  to  discuss  politics  with  him,  or  to  bring 
him  under  their  influence.  She  was  a  good  wife 
for  the  Union  cause,  for  if  the  army  in  Northern 
Virginia  had  been  commanded  by  Thomas  instead 
of  Lee,  affairs  might  have  proved  worse  than  they 
actually  did.  General  Lee  made  a  stubborn  resist 
ance,  but  as  Lord  Wolseley  has  remarked,  his 
offensive  movements  were  not  successful. 

Mrs.  Thomas  came  from  Troy,  New  York. 


392 


APPENDIX 

C 

There  is  a  point  of  view  from  which  Wendell 
Phillips'  course  after  1870  appears  both  intelligible 
and  consistent,  though  whether  it  was  judicious, 
every  man  must  decide  for  himself.  Phillips  was  a 
true  prophet  in  one  respect  at  least.  He  foresaw 
the  reactionary  spirit  against  the  negro  race  in 
America;  he  predicted  it  and  strove  to  provide 
against  it.  In  this  he  soon  stood  almost  alone. 
Garrison  had  long  since  given  up  the  cause ;  George 
L.  Stearns  was  dead ;  Sumner  and  Greeley  became 
involved  in  the  San  Domingo  controversy;  but 
Phillips  pursued  his  object  with  the  absolute  devo 
tion  of  the  idealist,  who  recognizes  no  obstacle 
between  himself  and  the  end  he  has  in  view.  There 
was  only  one  prominent  public  man  who  could 
sympathize  with  him  in  this  movement,  and  that 
one  only  from  interested  motives.  No  man  was 
ever  more  severely  inflamed  with  the  presidential 
fever  than  General  B.  F.  Butler,  and  no  one  held 
a  slighter  chance  of  attaining  the  position;  but  he 
had  a  scheme  for  doing  this  by  means  of  negro 
votes  at  the  South,  and  the  labor  movement  at 
the  North.  Both  he  and  Phillips  were  decidedly 
socialistic,  and  they  may  have  both  been  as  sincere 
in  this  as  Henry  James,  W.  D.  Howells  and  other 
excellent  men.  Phillips  at  least  had  seen  wealth 
and  education  ranged  on  the  side  pf  oppression, 
and  he  had  begun  to  feel  that  real  virtue  was  only 
to  be  found  among  those  who  labored  and  were 
heavy  laden.  "Tyranny,"  he  said,  "is  the  off 
spring  of  luxury  and  idleness ; "  and  he  was  not 
far  wrong. 

393 


APPENDIX 

Under  such  conditions  that  he  and  General  Butler 
should  come  together  was  natural  enough.  Those 
who  were  present  at  the  Harvard  Commencement 
dinner  in  1883,  could  testify  what  an  appearance 
of  virtue  and  philanthropy  General  Butler  could 
assume ;  and  Wendell  Phillips  was  rather  a  credu 
lous  person.  When  his  friends  complained  to  him 
of  Butler's  character,  he  said :  "  When  we  are  on 
a  ship  in  a  storm,  we  do  not  want  a  saint  for  a 
captain,  but  a  bold  navigator.  I  believe  Butler  to 
be  the  only  man  after  Grant  has  retired,  who  will 
have  the  courage  and  ability  to  deal  with  this  ques 
tion."  When  Hayes  became  President  by  means 
of  an  unavoidable  bargain  which  included  the 
withdrawal  of  the  United  States  troops  from  the 
Southern  states,  and  prevented  another  civil  war, 
Phillips  perceived  that  the  game  was  lost,  and  would 
seem  to  have  lost  all  self-control.  He  would  not 
believe  that  the  bargain  was  unavoidable ;  he  called 
Carl  Schurz  a  Swiss  hireling,  and  applied  other 
opprobrious  names  to  General  Devens.  It  would 
seem  after  this  as  if  his  mind  became  slightly  unbal 
anced,  for  he  squandered  all  his  property  in  foolish 
speculations,  such  as  would  have  horrified  him  in 
earlier  life.  The  one  valid  charge  against  him  is 
his  use  of  bitter  personalities.  In  private  life  he 
was  the  perfect  type  of  a  gentleman,  and  a  more 
graceful  finished  orator  never  walked  on  to  a 
stage.  He  had  the  heart  of  a  hero,  but  his  judg 
ment  was  not  equal  to  his  courage. 


394 


V   ®F  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


Index 


Achs,  Rev.  Gideon,  73,  101-  Blair,    Frank    P.,    248,    249, 

103,  230  251,  252 

Adams,  Charles  Francis,  86,  Blair,  Montgomery,  248,  249 

146,  237  Bloomer  costume,  128 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  49  Boutwell,  George  S.,  85 

Advocate,  the,  375    *  Bowditch,  Dr.  Henry  I.,  294 

Alcott,    Amos    Bronson,    43,  Bowditch,    Dr.    J.    Ingersoll, 

149,222,276,345  117 

Ames,  Oakes,  277  Bowen,  Dr.,  313,  316,  363 

Andrew,  John  A.,  54,  58,  70,  Brackett,     Edwin    A.,     194, 

86,  106-108,  156,  157,  187,         195,  275 

188,  191,  195,  196,  200,  201,  Bradford,  George  P.,  45,  46, 

210,216,219,229-232,236         262 

-238,    240,    267,   271,    273,  Bride,    William    J.,    313 

286,  287,  290-295,  297,  298,  Brook  Farm,  45 

305,  340,  352,  366  Brooks,  Preston  S.,  114 

Angier,  Mr.,  19,  27  Brown,  John,    113,    129-140, 
Antislavery  Standard,  the,  76,         144,      159-175,      180-182, 

198,329  185,      187-198,      203-211, 

Appleton,  T.  G.,  141  218,    289;    family  of,    137, 

Atkinson,  Edward,  347,  363  188,    195,    199-201,    218 

Attucks,  Crispus,  190,  196  Brownlow,  Governor,  of  Ten 
nessee,  363 

Bancroft,  Frederic,  104  Buchanan,    James,    37,    135, 
Baner,  Dr.  W.  J.,  299  142,   143,  236,  244 

Banks,    Governor,    188,   219,  Bull,  Ole,  79,  103 

231  Bull  Run,  battle  of,  254 

Barlow,  Francis  C.,  362  Burlingame,  Anson,  233,  234 

Barrett,  Jennie,  79  Butler,  Andrew  P.,  113 

Bartlett,  Edward,  312  Butler,    General    B.    F.,    85, 
Beecher,  Henry  Ward,    123,         229,251,252,274,276,326 

124,  259  Butler,     Peter,     91-94,     145, 
Belmont,  August,  147  146 

Benton,  Thomas  H.,  226  Byron's  helmet,  263 
Bird,  Frank  W.,  70,  155,  156, 

200,  229,  231,  244,  271,  276  Cabell,  E.  C.,  355 

-278,  280,  287,  375  Cabot,  Dr.  Samuel,  105 

Bird  Club,  the,  156-158,  181,  Carey,  Henry  C.,  184,  302 

188,  201,  219,  260,  362  Carey,  Thomas  G.,  116 

Birney,  Colonel,  306  Chapman,  Mrs.    Maria,    128, 
Blackstone,    186  364 

395 


INDEX 


Chase,  Salmon  P.,  226,  250,     Eaton,  Lucian  B.,  283 

253»    283»    284,    290,    306,     Eliot,  Thomas  D.,  319,  363 
326.    353-354,    368,    369         Elssler,    Fanny,    39,    46,    49, 
Child,  David  Lee,  44,  125  147 

Child,  Mrs.  Lydia  Maria,  44,     Emancipation,  256,  268,  269, 
68,76-79,125,128,177,192         273 

Emancipation  Proclamation, 
the,  275,  278,  285,  354,355 
Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  82, 


Choate,    Joseph,    298,    335 
J,  R 


94,  95,   108-110,   138,   151, 
152,    178,    181,    190,    191, 

198,      2l6,      22O,      222,      225, 
26l,       274-276,       280,       28l, 

333.345.  347,  379,382-385 

Endicott,  William,  347,  362, 

363 


Choate,  Rufus,  37,  59 
Cisco,  John  J.,  283,  284 
Clapp,  Rev.  Dexter,  69,  141 
Cochrane,  Captain,  351 
Colfax,  Schuyler,  321 
Collamer,  Senator,  207,  208 
Collamore,  George  W.,    106- 

108,  246,  251 
Collins,  Benjamin,  92,  93 
Colored  regiments,    285-297,     Evarts,  William  M.,  273 

303-306,     313,     318,     320,     Everett,  Edward,  149 

330,  331  Ewing,  Judge,  246 

Comets,  178,  179 
Commonwealth,  the,  263,  264,    Fearing,  Albert,  40,  54 

268,  281  Fearing   &    Co.,    Albert,    40, 

Conscience  Whigs,  59,  83  53,  55 

Conway,  Martin  F.,  122,  123,     Fire  at  Medford,  69,  70 

131,     135,     140-142,     163,     Floyd,  J.  B.,  172,  173 

193,    211,    212,    225,    228,     Follen,     Charles,     176,     177, 

246,     253,     256-259,     271,         318 

272,  382,  392  Forbes,  Hugh,  160,  162,  163, 

Conway,    Moncure    D.,    263,         167,  171,  172,  204 

264,  274,  279,  280  Forbes,    John   M.,    249,    309, 

Cooke,  Jay,  370  314,    315,    321,    334,    347, 

Corwin,  Thomas,  197  370 

Crittenden  compromise,  the,     Forney,  John  W.,  280,  368 

240  Francis,  Rev.  Convers,  44-46 

Crosby,  Professor,  357  Fremont,    J.    C.,     121,     125, 

Curtis,  George  William,  334          277,  278,  326 
Curtis,  Judge,  272  Fugitive  Slave  Law,   64,  81, 

Gushing,  Caleb,  219,  274 


Gushing,  Rev.  William,  37 

Dana,  Richard  H.,  350,  371 
Davis,    Jefferson,     105,    m, 

208-210,  212,  272,  300 
Devens,  General,  273,  394 
Dial,  the,  38,  46,  345 
Doubleday,  General,  266 
Douglas,    Stephen    A.,     in, 

113,  179,  219,  226-231,  269 
Draft  riots,  297-300 


83,    84,    87,   90,    ioo,    102, 
185,  190,  227,  346 
Fuller,     Margaret,     38,     39, 
45,  J94 

Garfield,  James  A.,  315,  361, 

369,  371 

Garrison,  Wendell  P.,  336 
Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  41, 

42,  81,   85,   127,   138,   184, 

260,     261,     275-277,     336, 

343.  352.  353 


396 


INDEX 

Gaston,  William,  85  Hopper,  Isaac  T.,  76-78 

Gibbons,    Mrs.    James,     124,  Hopper,    John,    76-79,    120, 

140,  298,  299  170,    202,    205,    247,    266, 

Godkin,  Edwin  L.,  334-338,         298,  299 

350,  366  Howe,  Dr.  Estes,  183 

Grant,     General,     270,     328,  Howe,  Mrs.  Julia  Ward,  271 

329  272,  275 

Great  Eastern,  the,  230  Howe,    Dr.    S.    G.,    70,    117, 
Greeley,    Horace,    179,    183,         118,    138,    156,    163,    164, 

260,  327  168,    170,    171,    187,    188, 

202,    213,    230,    237,    263, 
Hale,  Rev.  Edward  Everett,         358,  360,  364,  380-382 

98,  117  Howells,  William  D.,  192 

Hale,  John  P.,  96,  97,  99  Hugo,  Victor,  192 

Hale,  Miss  Susan,  125  Hungarian      Exiles,      71-76, 
Hall,  Miss  Mary,  17  101-103 

Hallet,  B.  F.,  89,  90  Hunt,  Helen,  385 

Hallowell,  Morris  L.,  308  Hunt,   William  M.,   30,    101, 
Hallowell,  Norwood  P.,  286,         150 

291,  293  Hunter,  General,  285,  297 
Hallowell,  R.  P.,  309,  335,  336 

Hamilton,     Alexander,     285,  "Impending    Crisis,"    Help- 

366,  367  er's,  183,  184 

Hamilton,  John  C.,  366,  367 

Hardy,  ^Alpheus,  347  Jackson,     Patrick     T.,     117, 
Harper's  Ferry,  John  Brown's         140,  171 

attack    on,    187-193,    196,  Johnson,    Andrew,    309-311, 

197,  201,  205,  207,  208  343,     350,     352,     358-363, 
Hawthorne,  Julian,  317  368,  376,  377 

Hay  and  Nicolay,  185,  186  Johnson,    Rev.    Samuel,    63, 
Hayden,  Lewis,  286  no,   150,  325,  374 

Hayes,  President,  273 

Hedge,    Rev.   Frederick    H.,  Kalapkur,  General,  72 

47,  50  Kansas  Aid  Committee,  117- 
Helper,  H.  R.,  183,  184  127,    135,    136,    139,    166- 

Higginson,    Colonel    T.    W.,         171,  179 

118,    163,    193,   217,   285  Kansas    Immigrant   Aid   So- 
Hillard,    George    S.,    72,    75,         ciety,  98,  99 

82,  102,  124,  125,  183,  249  Kansas-Nebraska    Bill,    180, 
Hillard,  Mrs.  George  S.,   74,         185 

153,  183,  250  Kansas  struggle,  the,  97-99, 
Hitchcock,  General,  264  103-109,      111-114,      I3°- 

Hoar,  E.  Rockwood,  86,  126,         135,     138-140,     142,     144, 

198,  202,  216  160,  165-172,  180,  193 
Hoar,  Senator  George  F.,  85,  Kelley,  William  D.,  302,  304, 

T57.  J98  3°5 

Hoar,  Samuel,  281  Kemble,  Fanny,  151,  152 

Hoist,  H.  E.  von,   113,   131,  King,     Miss     Augusta,     114, 

J37  n5»  125,  133 

397 


INDEX 

King,  John,  115  Mason,    Senator,     201,     208, 

King,  Thomas  Starr,  39,  141         209 

Kinizsy,    Captain,    73,    101-  Missouri  Compromise,   96-98 

103  Montgomery,      James,      134, 
Kirke,  Edmund,  327  142,    224,    226,    235,    236, 

Kossuth,  71,  72,  75,  103  252,  286,  297 

Morgan,    Governor,    of    New 
Lane,    James    H.,    104,    131,         York,  246 

J33>    J59i    l6o»    J93»    224»  Mott,  Lucretia,  260,  308 

246,  249,  251,  253,  391  Mussey,  Captain  R.  D.,  319, 
Lawrence,  Abbott,  357  324,  331 

Lawrence,     Amos     A.,     105, 

106,  135,  136,  315,  321  Nation,  New  York,  332-338, 
Lecompton  Constitution,  166         342,  344,  346,  351,  357,  366 

Lee,  Henry,  347  Norton,    Charles    Eliot,    332, 
Liberator,  the,  276  333,  336,  337 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  227,  233, 

242-244,    258,    269,    277-  Occident,  Maria  del,  21 

281,  310,  327,  340  Olmstead,    F.    L.,    295,    296, 
Lincoln,  Mrs.  Abraham,  270,         304,  306 

271  Osgood,  Dr.,  25,  33,  34,  38, 
Lmd,  Jenny,  79,  80  61 

Littlefield,  Colonel,  320  Osgood,  Miss  Mary,   62,  89 
Lodge,  Senator,  157 

Longfellow,    Henry    W.,    72,  Parker,  Joel,  269 

116,  177,  329  Parker,     Theodore,     45,     60, 
Longfellow,  Rev.  Samuel,  74,         87,    89,    90,    96,    115,    117, 

382  123,  161,  163,  188 

Loring,  Mr.,  53,  54  Parkman,  Rev.  Dr.,  86,  87 

Louis  Napoleon,  70,  71,  142,  Parsons,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  141 

283  Parsons,     Theophilus,     346- 


Lowell,   James  Russell,    134,         350,  353,  354,  362,  382 

149,  333,  346,  348  Pate,  H.  Clay,  182 

Lowell,  John  A.,  117,  143  Perry,  Dr.  Marshall  S.,   115, 


Lundy,    Benjamin,    41,    184,  116,  120,  339 

275  Phillips,  Wendell,  41,  42,  117, 

136,    138,    149,    190,    196, 

McClellan,  General,  255,  256,  197,    217,    218,    260,    261, 

258,     261,     262,     264-266,  271,     272,     274-278,     280, 

268,  270,  271  294,    295,    327,    335,    352- 

McCloskey,   Archbishop,    298  354,  358,  379,  393,  394 

McCulloch,   Hugh,   307,   358,  Pierce,  E.  L.,  372 

370  Pierce,     Franklin,     96,     100, 

MacGregor,  Stark,  154,  155  104,  105,  143 

McKim,  J.  Miller,  308,  319,  Pierce,  Henry  L.,  229 

330,  332,  337,  366  Pierpont,  Rev.  John,  60,  64, 

Manning,     Rev.     Jacob     M.,  67,  69 

192,  196,  332  Pomeroy,  General,  133,  134 

Manning,  James  H.,  260  Pratt,  Caleb  J.,  242 

398 


INDEX 


Preston,  Mary  Elizabeth,  44- 

50 
Preston,   Judge   Warren,   44, 

51.  69 

Pullen,  Mr.,  42,  52 
Putnam,    Edmund    Q.,    267, 
268 

Radical,  the,  345 

Reconstruction,  341-357 

Redpath,  James,  174 

Reeder,  Governor,  of  Kan 
sas,  104,  105,  122 

Reid,  Whitelaw,  316,  334 

Remeinyi,  103 

Rhodes,  J.  P.,  103 

Rice,  Alexander  H.,  116 

Right  Way,  the,  357,  363, 
366,  372,  378 

Ripley,  George,  46 

Robinson,  Governor  Charles, 
of  Kansas,  105,  112,  113, 
132,  213,  224,  391,  392 

Robinson,  William  L.,  238 

Ropes,  J.  C.,  254 

Rosecrans,  General,  309-311 

Rum,  Medford,  60 

Russell,     Thomas,     88,     159, 

196,    2OI,    246 

Russell,  William  G.,  58 

Sanborn,  Frank  B.,  126,  137, 

159,  161-163,     *66,     167, 
179,    188,    189,    199,    215- 

218,  263,  387 
Schurz,  Carl,  307,  394 
Scott,  Dred,  185 

Sears,  Rev.  Edmund,  192 
Secession,  239,  243 
Sewall,  Samuel  E.,  191,  216 
Seward,     William     H.,     118, 

160,  167,    172,    173,    186, 

219,  226,    245,    258,    259, 
267,    268,    340,    343,    358, 

369 

Sharpe's  rifles,  105,  106,  126, 

127,  133,  140,  209 
Shaw,  Chief  Justice,  216 
Shaw,  Robert  G.,  286,  388 


Sherman,  General,  254,  261, 

331 

Slack,  Charles  W.,  260,  332 
Smalley,  G.  W.,  327 
Smith,  Gerrit,  136,  137,  163, 

189,  203 

Smith,  J.  B.,  276 
Smith,  Joseph  H.,  388 
Stanley,  General,  278,  279 
Stanton,  Edwin  M.,  266,  296, 
301,    303,    304,    307,    308, 
316-319,      321-325,      327, 

328.  358 

Stearns,  Rev.  David,  15,  16 
Stearns,   Elizabeth  Hall,    17, 

26 

Stearns,  George  Luther,  his 
birth,  1 7 ;  home  training, 
20;  education,  22;  char 
acteristics,  22-28;  in 
Brattleboro,  28;  in  Bos 
ton,  30;  his  oil-mill,  34, 
40;  marries  Miss  Train,  36; 
his  wife's  death,  37;  pub 
lic  interests,  37;  friend 
ships,  39;  manner  of 
speaking  and  reasoning, 
39 ;  in  the  firm  of  Fearing  & 
Co.,  40,  55;  views  on 
slavery,  41;  disinherited 
by  his  uncle,  43;  meets 
Miss  Preston,  45;  his  sec 
ond  marriage,  50;  buys 
estate  in  Medford,  51; 
takes  up  lead-pipe  manu 
facture,  53;  meets  Sum- 
ner,  58;  political  opinions, 
59;  supports  movement 
against  intemperance,  61; 
his  generosity,  69;  aids 
Hungarian  exiles,  71;  his 
opinion  of  Webster,  81; 
political  activity,  84;  social 
relations,  86;  aids  fugi 
tive  negro,  88;  his  corner 
in  lead,  90;  financial 
losses,  91;  first  visit  from 
Emerson,  94;  his  long 
beard,  101;  joins  in  send- 


399 


INDEX 


Stearns,  George  Luther — Con. 
ing  rifles  to  Kansas,  105; 
gives  and  collects  money 
for  Kansas,  118;  chairman 
of  Kansas  Committee,  119; 
meets  John  Brown,  129; 
secures  rifles  for  Brown, 
135;  contributes  to  buy  a 
home  for  Brown,  136;  ap 
peals  to  New  York  Kansas 
Committee  for  Brown,  139; 
his  financial  affairs,  145; 
personal  appearance,  147, 
148;  traits,  tastes,  and 
opinions,  147-154;  chari 
ties,  154,  155;  member  of 
the  Bird  Club,  156;  con 
tribution  to  Brown,  159; 
connection  with  Harper's 
Ferry  raid,  163,  168-171, 
289;  builds  a  house,  175; 
last  meeting  with  Brown, 
1 8 1 ;  receives  news  of  Har 
per's  Ferry  raid,  187;  goes 
to  Montreal,  188;  returns 
home,  198;  aids  Brown's 
family,  199;  before  the 
Senate  Investigating  Com 
mittee,  202-210;  visit 
from  Wasson,  220;  goes 
to  Kansas,  223;  his  opin 
ion  of  Lincoln's  nomina 
tion,  227;  supports  John 
A.  Andrew  for  governor, 
229;  speech  to  the  Repub 
lican  procession,  232;  goes 
to  Washington  with  An 
drew,  236;  sends  Stewart 
to  guard  Sumner,  242; 
consults  with  Andrew  as 
to  Kansas,  245;  visits 
Governor  Morgan,  of  New 
York,  246;  goes  to  Wash 
ington  in  behalf  of  Kan 
sas,  246,  250;  his  corres 
pondence  with  Whittier  on 
Emancipation,  256;  po 
litical  activity,  257;  prac- 
Phil- 


tical  joke  on  Wendell 


Stearns,  George  Luther — Con. 
lips,  261;  opinion  of  Mc- 
Clellan,  262;  founds  the 
Commonwealth,  2  63 ;  con 
sultations  with  Governor 
Andrew,  266;  returns 
check  to  holders  of  a  gov 
ernment  contract,  274;  his 
dinner  parties,  274,  279, 
280;  celebrates  the  Eman 
cipation  Proclamation, 
27S»  goes  to  Washington 
in  behalf  of  Fremont,  277; 
writes  on  finance,  281;  his 
work  in  raising  colored 
regiments,  285-297;  as 
sistant  adjutant-general 
with  the  rank  of  major, 
296;  his  military  uniform, 
301 ;  member  of  the  Union 
League  Club,  Philadelphia, 
301;  opposes  reduction  of 
pay  of  colored  troops,  303 ; 
sent  to  Nashville,  307;  his 
work,  312;  meets  Gar- 
field,  315;  subscribes  to 
recruiting  fund,  315;  ex 
perience  with  Stanton, 
321;  sends  in  his  resigna 
tion,  322;  his  official  re 
port,  324;  interview  with 
Grant,  328;  importance  of 
his  work,  331;  founding 
the  Nation,  332;  first  se 
rious  sickness,  339;  advo 
cates  negro  suffrage,  341; 
meets  Lowell  and  Parsons, 
346;  supports  Parsons' 
plan  of  reconstruction, 
346;  organizes  bureau  for 
reconstruction,  351;  joins 
company  for  development 
of  Southern  industry,  352; 
supports  the  Antislavery 
Society,  3  53 ;  entertains 
Chase  at  dinner,  353;  let 
ter  on  Southern  labor  prob 
lem,  355;  founds  the  Right 
Way,  357;  interview  with 


400 


INDEX 

Stearns,  George  Luther — Con,    Stetson,  Rev.  Caleb,  38,  39, 
President     Johnson,     359;         45,  47,  49,  60-63 
illness,    363;    letter   to   T.     Stevens,  Thaddeus,  368 

D.  Eliot,  364;  dines  with  Stewart,  John  E.,  135,  193, 
J.  C.  Hamilton,  366;  last  242,  252 

visit  to  Washington,  367;  Stone,  James  M.,  263,  264, 
letter  to  Miss  Swisshelm,  366 

371;  his  work  for  negro  Sumner,  Charles,  58,  70,  81, 
suffrage,  372;  business  83-86,  102,  113-117,  120, 
troubles,  373;  state  of  124,  125,  127,  128,  174, 
health,  374;  a  devoted  175,  213,  214,  240-244, 
husband,  375;  letter  on  250,  262,  263,  267-269, 
President  Johnson,  376;  270-274,  277,  279,  285, 
reverses  of  fortune,  378;  337,  341-344,  353,  358- 
interest  in  Crete,  380;  363,  372 

takes  up  Shaw's  lead-pipe  Swisshelm,  Miss  Jane,  371 
invention,    381;     attacked 

with  pneumonia,  381;    his  Talbot,  William,  88,  89 

death,    382;     funeral    ser-  Tatham,  Benjamin,  53 

vices,  382;    memorial  ser-  Tatham  Brothers,  53,  91 

vice,  383;    Emerson's  trib-  Thayer,  Eli,  98,  99,  112,  212 

ute,  383;   Whittier's  poem,  Thomas,  General  G.  H.,  392 

385;  his  estate,  387;  tab-  Thoreau,  Henry  David,  181, 
let  to  his  memory,  388  222 

Stearns,  Henry  Laurens,  17,  Thuolts,   the,    72,    73,    101 

26,  33,  40,  42,  43,  61,  66  Tilton,  Theodore,  261 

Stearns,  Henry  L.,   134,   199  Tornado  at   Medford,    66-68 

Stearns,    John,  15  Touro,  Judah,  18 

Stearns,  Captain  Josiah,  16  Towne,  Rev.  E.  C.,  383 

Stearns,  Dr.  Luther,  14,  16-  Train,  Deacon,  34,  40 

^19  Train,  Miss  Mary  Ann,  36 

Stearns,  Mrs.  Mary  Hall,  17-  Trumbull,  Senator,  201,  342, 
21,  25.  27,  35,  43,  61,  67-         343,  349,  352,  367 

69  Tufts,  Turill,  43 
Stearns,  Mrs.  Mary  Preston, 

50,   51,  59,  62,  85,  86,  89,  Union    League    Club,    Phila- 
94,  95,  120,  150,  151,  159,         delphia,  156,  301,  302 
176,    177,    194,    197,    198, 

222,    260,    261,    276,    297,  Walker,  Dr.  Amasa,  46,  47 

354.    355.    364,    375,    3?8-  Walley,  Samuel  H.,   117 

381,  389  Washington,  Booker  T.,  388 

Stearns,  Mrs.  Mary  Train,  36,  Wasson,  David  A.,  182,  220- 

37  222,  227,  231,  264 

Stearns,  Dr.  Oliver,  16  Webster,  Daniel,  81,  82,  85, 
Stearns,  Onslow,  16  114,  1 86 

Stearns,  Thomas,  16  Webster,   Fletcher,   245,   246 

Stearns    family,    the,    13-16,  Welles,  Gideon,  358 

29;   coat  of  arms  of,  14  Whiting,   William,    58 

Sterne,  Isaac,  13  Whitman,   Walt,   217 
26                                     401 


INDEX 

Whittier,  John  G.,  256,  257,  Wise,  Governor,  of  Virginia, 

348,  350,  379,  385  188,  194 

Wilkeson,   Samuel,    290,   316  Wolcott,  Governor,  389 
Williams,  George,  317 

Wilson,   Henry,   59,   86,    100,  Zerdahelyi,   Mr.,    73,    74,    79, 

116,     167-171,     179,     200,  101 

201,    233,    276,    326,    327,  Zulavsky    family,     the,     75, 

367,  368  76 


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